[meteorite-list] Fw: Re: - "witness" to July 6 Fireball PA

[MeteorHntr at aol.com]

Chris,

How fast is a meteoroid going when it burns out?  And at  what point in the 
flight does it go below the speed of the sound  barrier?

I might have been mistaken, but I thought really close to the  point of 
dark flight it slowed down where the sonic booms stopped being crated  as well.

Also, which meteorites in the past do you have record of that  traveled 
extensively beyond the burn out point?

And how far beyond that  point have meteorites continued to fly?

Of course with a 20 mile long strewnfield, the distance of the burn out  
spot from the leading and trailing edge could differ greatly.

Steve
 


In a message dated 7/9/2009 9:45:16 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
clp at alumni.caltech.edu writes:
No, witness reports continue to be a big help.  In particular, reports 
about 
sonic booms can be very helpful. It has been  observed in many cases that 
these tend to be heard only near the fall zone,  and this has proved very 
useful for a number of meteorite hunters. If you  have good information 
about 
the location of the terminal explosion, the next  step is to interview 
people 
on the ground in an effort to narrow down the  search area.

There should be good radiosonde data available in most  places as well. 
Once 
the height of the terminal explosion is determined,  this should be used to 
model the dark flight. This data can be the  difference between an 
uncertainty on the ground of a few square miles versus  hundreds of square 
miles.
 
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