[meteorite-list] "The high-pitched scream"?

[Mark Crawford]

Hi folks,

On another forum someone posted about a recent TV programme he'd watched 
about NEOs.  At the end the guest astronomer said something to the 
effect that "the first we know about an incoming impactor could be the 
high-pitched scream as it speeds through the atmosphere."

It got me wondering; a sizeable body would be travelling at cosmic (ie 
very supersonic) velocity right through to impact, and therefore the 
"scream" should trail behind the object - in other words, we wouldn't 
even get that much warning.

Was the speaker using poetic license or would there be any kind of 
fore-shock?

Mark

-- 
Mark's Meteorite Pages: http://meteorites.cc