[meteorite-list] How much survives entry?

[Alexander Seidel]

> 2008TC3 at 2 to 5 meters diameter must have
> weighed between 10 and 150 metric tons. The
> four kilos recovered would suggest a minimum
> loss of 99.96%. Of course, there could just as
> easily been 40 kilos of which only 10% was
> recovered (99.6% loss). Or 400 kilos of which
> only 1% was recovered (96% loss).
> 
> I think it unlikely there was 400 kilos reaching
> the ground, but quite possible there were 40 kilos.
> (Most likely fall weight would be 15 to 25 kilos.)
> I don't think all of it was recovered. Strewn fields a
> century old still yield up meteorites today. These
> loss estimates are based on that lowest weight
> estimate of ten tons... At an original 100 metric
> tons, the losses would be an order of magnitude
> higher.


Regarding 2008TC3, I would like to point at a new and,
in my opinion, excellent 4-page-update-summary issued 
by the NATURE magazine:

"The impact and recovery of asteroid 2008TC3"
P. Jenniskens et al., NATURE, Vol 458/26 March 2009

You have to pay a fee for an online-copy of the paper 
when you enter the NATURE website, but may be Professor 
Jenniskens or Professor Shaddad from Khartoum would be 
willing to share sort of a preprint or reprint - don´t 
know. Sorry, I have no email addresses at hands... 

Alex
Berlin/Germany