[meteorite-list] Chunks of Ice ... Cometary?

[bernd.pauli at paulinet.de]

Darren wrote:

"Any numbers on how big the block would have to be? How small the surviving
piece could be? I'm thinking of some of those chunks of ice that fall from the sky
some times. Most come from planes. Could some be cometary?"


Campins H. and Swindle T. (1998) Expected characteristics
of cometary meteorites (MAPS 33, 1998, pp. 1201-1211):

"The possibility of ice meteorites from comets has been discussed by Berczi and
Lukács (1997). They argue in favor of the survivability of ice meteoroids through
Earth's atmosphere and conclude that some make it to the ground. However, no ice
meteorite has ever been recovered. Although a cometary origin should be considered
when and if any falling ice of extraterrestrial origin is discovered, we will concentrate
on the dusty or rocky portion of comets."


Best regards,

Bernd