[meteorite-list] When is a fall...?

[Mark Crawford]

I read a definition of a fall as being where the meteor is 'usually seen 
as a fireball' before it lands and is recovered. Obviously, I thought, 
it needs to be seen burning up - that's the very definition of a fall.

I then considered that the definition would strictly be 'observed' to 
fall. One could imagine a scenario where an object may not be witnessed 
by the human eye, but which were otherwise recorded. *Pribram and 
*Innisfree were recorded photographically; Pribram and (I think) 
Innisfree were also witnessed by eye, but if they hadn't been I'd still 
call them falls.

Then I wondered about 2008 TC3. It was observed and projected to impact 
earth, the landing area was calculated. Material was recovered. Now if 
the KLM pilot hadn't seen the fireball, and if the putative Meteosat 
image (*http://tinyurl.com/d4sna5) *hadn't appeared - would this still 
be classed as a fall?

When is a fall not a fall? :)

Mark
**

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