[meteorite-list] Meteorites 101

[Chris Peterson]

No. In fact, there is good evidence to suggest that the great majority of 
meteorites are produced by rather small meteors, which not only don't 
fragment, but aren't even fireballs. The sense that meteorites are the 
product of big, spectacular, fragmenting fireballs is produced because those 
are the only sorts of events where we can correlate the meteor and the 
meteorite. Nobody notices the unimpressive meteors, or ever connects them to 
particular meteorites.

Chris

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


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Hankey" <mike.hankey at gmail.com>
To: "Chris Peterson" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>
Cc: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2011 6:18 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorites 101


See I always thought bolide was a a large fireball that fragmented. Is it 
safe to say only bolides become meteorites?

So the scale of bigness: meteor, fireball, bolide, super bolide. Super 
bolides are the ones shaking homes and >=-24 magnitude.

Great distraction after a terrible defeat by the squeelers. Congrats mike.