[meteorite-list] NPA 11-30-1930 Swarm of Meteors Cause of Vast Crater

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: The Helena Independent
City: Helena, Montana
Date: Sunday, November 30, 1930
Page: 16

SWARM OF SMALL METEORS AS CAUSE OF VAST CRATER

     Instead of one huge meteor, as heretofore supposed, a swarm of smaller 
meteors representing 300,000 tons of iron and stone was responsible for 
producing the famous meteor crater, nearly a mile in diameter, near Winslow, 
Ariz., according to a new theory of Dr. Forest R. Moulton.  Dr. Moulton 
presented his hypothesis at the recent meeting of the American Astronomical 
Society at Chicago.
     The general belief has been that the crater was formed by the impact of 
a single meteoric mass weighing perhaps 10,000,000 tons or more.  
Astronomers, acting on this belief, have attempted, without success, to 
locate the mass beneath the crater.
     According to the Moulton theory, what was originally a single meteor 
broke up with explosive violence as it neared the earth.  It struck the 
ground in the form of a ball of small meteors with a combined power 
equivalent to 400,000,000 tons of nitroglycerin.
     Dr. Moulton said that a small meteor, or meteorite, weighing a pound or 
so, enters the earth's atmosphere at its initial speed of around ten miles a 
second.  It tends to slow up as the atmospheric resistance increases and 
becomes greater than the gravitational attraction.  During its slower travel 
the meteor, furiously radiating away light and heat, burns up and becomes an 
ordinary "shooting star" by the time it reaches the earth.
     A large meteor of the Arizona type, however, would burn relatively less 
slowly, but the terrific resistance of the air tend to explode it into 
fragments.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas
http://www.meteoritearticles.com
http://www.kansasmeteoritesociety.com
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The NPA in the subject line, stands for Newspaper Article.