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(meteorobs) Re: Meteoroid Size
Well George I was also somewhat surprised that the figures are close but
there it is in black and white on page 30 of the 95 edition of the IMO's
visual handbook.
For those who do not have the handbook the density figures listed for
the Geminids was 4.2 g/cm3 and 3.4 g/cm3 for the Perseids. These figures
were taken from Babadzhanov's 1994 results.
Bob Lunsford
GeoZay@aol.com wrote:
>
> I believe Petr Pravec of the Astronomical Institute in the Czech Republic
> posted sometime in late august that the parent source of the Geminids
> (asteroid 3200 Phaethon) was determined to have a density of 3-4 g/cm^3. This
> was derived from an analysis of the atmospheric penetration behavior of 41
> Geminid fireballs. Their behavior resembled that of fireballs producing stony
> meteorites. The average density of stony meteorites is around 3.54 g/cm^3.
> That of comets is around 0.3 to 0.6 g/cm^3. It would seem that the parent
> source of the Geminids and that of stony meteorites might have something in
> common? Unless perseids have densities near that of stony meteorites, I don't
> see their density being really that close?
> George Zay
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