[meteorite-list] Visiting Meteor Crater

[bernd.pauli at paulinet.de]

Scientists at the University of Arizona recently announced that the
meteor was traveling at 26,800 miles per hour when it smashed into the
Earth, significantly slower than the original estimation of 44,000 mph.

This part of the information is not quite new to most of us. 26,800 mph
correponds  to 11,16 km/s and 44,000mph equals 18,33 km/s. Here is an
excerpt from a 1995 article in MAPS:

D.J. Roddy and E.M. Shoemaker (1995) Meteor Crater: Summary
of impact conditions (Meteoritics 30-5, 1995, page 567):

.. the meteorite had a velocity in the range of about 13 to 20 km/s, probably
in the lower part of this range ..., the coherent meteorite diameter is estimated
to have been 45-50 m with a mass of 300,000 - 400,000 t, i.e., large enough to
experience less than 1% in both mass ablation and velocity deceleration. During
this time, minor flake-off of the meteorite's exterior produced a limited number
of smaller fragments that followed the main mass to the impact site, but at greatly
reduced velocities.

Regards,

Bernd