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(meteorobs) This one was "warm".
A meteorite that was recovered very soon after impact in
Monahans, Texas, on March 22, 1998, was reported to be
"warm" by more than one person who handled it:
http://wwwdot caverdot net/meteor1.htm
http://wwwdot caverdot net/meteor2.htm
This one was seen in daylight or very bright twilight, and
there was a smoke trail. It was reported to have exploded
apparently fairly close to the ground, in which case maybe
it might not be too surprising for a fragment to be hot or
warm when found so quickly.
On the other hand, the Forcier fragment of the 1994 St.
Robert, Quebec, Canada "meteorite shower" was reported to
be cold.
http://www.nrcan.gcdot ca/gsc/meteor_e.html
(I remember seeing in a TV news program video of those
Quebequois [sp?] cows in the field and the voice-over
that they helped locate the meteorite. By the way, this
was the first time I remember seeing that term "meteorite
shower" and wonder if it's what the SpaceCom guy was
intending to say, however incorrectly, when he was asked
about the October 13, 2000, re-entry fireballs observed
in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, USA.)
So maybe at least with large ones that explode, if the
explosion is close enough to the ground that they impact
within seconds (plus it's not as cold as miles above the
ground!), the fragments can be warm or hot when they hit?
On October 9, 1997, a bolide was detected by US satellites
and observed as a daylight fireball by quite a few people
in the general vicinity of El Paso, Texas, SW New Mexico
(and presumably Juarez, Mexico), along with a long-lasting
smoke trail and sonic booms. There were reports at the
time of a fire or at least a burned or scorched area near
El Paso, but I'm not sure if it was ever verified as
really being related to a meteorite fall from the bolide.
I don't know if any meteorite was found, either. The
explosion that was detected by satellites was in the 30-40
km altitude range -- way up there.
http://phobos.astro.uwodot ca/~pbrown/dod971.txt
http://phobos.astro.uwodot ca/~pbrown/usaf983.txt
http://rampages.onrampdot net/~binder/elpaso.html
http://www.phoenixat.com/~vnn2/Elpasom.htm
Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexasdot edu - Austin, Texas, USA
http://wwwvms.utexasdot edu/~ecannon/meteorlinks.html
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