[meteorite-list] Re-2: Cali meteorite fall trajectory and offsetofdamage.

[Chris Peterson]

Yes, my thoughts are in the same general direction. I don't have any 
good sense of the mechanism by which energy is coupled into a falling 
meteorite in such a way as to actually produce an explosion capable of 
blowing off pieces at high speed (rather than just disrupting the 
object). So I'm thinking more along the lines of a large component 
surviving deep enough into the atmosphere that it could break apart 
above the strewn field at a low height (like Sikhote-Alin). It may have 
been slow enough by then (although still hypersonic) to not produce any 
sort of stunning overhead display, or the much more impressive display 
to the north may have still been a distraction.

In any case, small fast objects do suggest a particularly large parent.

Chris

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


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <bernd.pauli at paulinet.de>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 12:27 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Re-2: Cali meteorite fall trajectory and 
offsetofdamage.


> Chris wrote:
>
> The material evidence of the fall does suggest that the components 
> still
> carried some of their original velocity, but I can't see any mechanism 
> by
> which such small stones could retain that over 30 km of low altitude 
> travel.
>
> Mike wrote:
>
>>From all accounts, the body entering the atmosphere must have been
> very large indeed to cause explosions loud enough to shatter windows.
>
> Let's now combine both comments, which could mean that the Cali 
> meteoroid:
>
> 1. still carried some of its original (cosmic) velocity
> 2. must have been very large, in other words,
> 3. the meteoroid's mass may have stayed intact down to a very low 
> altitude
> 4. *exploded*, in the literal sense of the word, at a very low 
> altitude
> 5. did not fall in free flight but was accelerated by its explosive 
> energy
>
> .. and finally, that the Cali meteorite:
>
> 6. should be the very opposite of a friable meteorite: very solid, 
> very coherent
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Bernd