[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: (meteorobs) Re: March 9th, 2000, Arkansas fireball
Stuart Saunders wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: Stuart Saunders <stuart@ficnetdot net>
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Re: March 9th, 2000, Arkansas fireball
> I disagree.
> The Peekskill meteor was white hot in the video, when it was very
close to
> ground.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
What the public has to become educated about is that the average end
point for a meteorite dropping fireball is around 18 km high. This is were
the meteor stops emitting light. When a meteor is passing through the
atmosphere only a thin portion of its surface is heated to vaporization
temperatures. This hot material is left behind or is ablated away from the
main mass. It does not have a chance to heat the main body of the meteorite
which is very cold. By the time the meteorite reaches the ground it may be
just warm to the touch or even cold!
It would most certainly NOT start a fire. This does not apply to very large
objects such as the type that blasted out Meteor Crater in Arizona. Such
objects hit the earths surface at hyper velocity exploding and vaporizing
the contact point. Such events are very rare indeed and would be a major
and catastrophic event if it occurred in a populated area. If large enough,
it could even possibly end most life on earth such as the impact event that
cause the dinosaur extinction. Peekskill was definitely not in this class
of fireball event. Not even close!!!
Ed Majden -
To UNSUBSCRIBE from the 'meteorobs' email list, use the Web form at:
http://www.tiacdot net/users/lewkaren/meteorobs/subscribe.html
References: