[meteorite-list] Meteorite Doubting Thomas

[Chris Peterson]

Tracy-

I think proper skepticism is certainly in order.

Meteorites arrive cool because several minutes have ordinarily passed 
since they were traveling fast enough to produce atmospheric heating. 
But if they are several meters across, they can make it all the way to 
the ground still moving at a hypersonic speed. Such a meteorite will 
certainly be hot at impact, and will produce an impressive crater.

Things don't quite add up with this event, which makes it interesting. I 
wouldn't expect a body large enough to crater, but small enough to 
produce such a small crater, to be stony. The area of the crater is very 
remote, but I would have expected an impressive fireball seen over a 
vast distance. I'd think additional small craters would be likely. A bit 
of seismic activity doesn't prove much, since anything that could 
produce a crater this size would also produce seismics. But I haven't 
heard that there were any infrasonics produced, as would be expected 
from a large fireball. If this was a meteorite, especially a stony one, 
the fall dynamics are going to be very interesting indeed.

Chris

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


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "tracy latimer" <daistiho at hotmail.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>; "tracy latimer" 
<daistiho at hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2007 12:37 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Doubting Thomas



I have problems with the meteorite theory:
1.  Meteorites, as this List knows, come in cold, not hot enough to make 
the water in the crater "boiling", as several witnesses stated.
2.  Meteorites usually travel a long distance from where the glowing 
meteor is first seen.  If the locals saw the bolide, chances are good 
whatever they saw fell a long distance away, not close enough for them 
to get there soon after it fell.
3.  Speaking of rocks, by now, everyone in every little hamlet knows 
that there are crazy people out there who pay big money for meteorites. 
If there was a "shower of rocks" associated with the fall, how come none 
of the other purported meteorites have been recovered?
4.  I await the analysis of a real meteorite specialist, not a 
geologist, not a vulcanologist, and not media speculation!  No reputable 
scientist  from outside Peru has so far investigated the crater or seen 
the alleged meteorite fragments.
5.  The sickness associated with the crater is a likely red herring, and 
unrelated to a real meteorite.

My 2 centavos.
Tracy Latimer