[meteorite-list] Bright Streak of Light in Sky ReportedfromSouthern Oregon to Seattle

[Chris Peterson]

Color isn't a real good indicator of fireball composition. In most cases the 
primary color components are products of atmospheric ionization, not 
ionization of meteoroid material. Combine this with the fact that witnesses 
usually report seeing different colors for the same event, and I don't think 
you can learn much.

There are exceptions, of course, but unless you have independent 
spectroscopic data you probably wouldn't want to make any assumptions (or 
even wild guesses) about composition based on color alone.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ks1u" <ks1u at prodigy.net>
To: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>; "Meteorite Mailing List" 
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 7:05 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Bright Streak of Light in Sky 
ReportedfromSouthern Oregon to Seattle


> The thing which is most interesting to me in these fireball sightings is 
> the color of the flame.  The only fireball I saw was an orange/yellow.  Is 
> it reasonable to make a guess as to the composition based on flame colors, 
> in the way geologists do a flame test?  Or, are there too many other 
> variables?
>
> George