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

[Chris Peterson]

Seems like it would depend on the angle. A shallow entry means that 
people at one end of the path might hear something before the impact at 
the other end. But most likely there would be no sound to give warning. 
Of course, the impactor wouldn't be going faster than light! The bright 
light in the sky would certainly give warning... a few seconds, for 
whatever that's worth.

Also, I think rumbles and booms are more likely than a high pitched 
scream. But I think the guy was just speaking figuratively in any case. 
Any impactor in a high eccentricity orbit that comes from a direction 
near the Sun is probably going to go undetected.

Chris

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


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Crawford" <mark at meteorites.cc>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 8:34 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] "The high-pitched scream"?


> 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