[meteorite-list] First Study of Chelyabinsk Meteorite
Bernd V. Pauli
bernd.pauli at paulinet.de
Thu Nov 7 17:00:44 EST 2013
Hello List,
Jeff inquired:
"I keep hearing lines like 'Chelyabinsk was the largest meteoroid
strike since the Tunguska event'. What about Sikhote-Alin? Does
anyone know if there are any accurate modellings on that fall in
terms of size, weight and energy?"
Here's what was able to cull from my sources:
Tunguska
megatons of TNT: 10-40 (probably 15)
mass (tons): 7 x 10^6 (if cometary)
mass (tons): 3.5 x 10^4 (if stony)
diameter (m): > 160 (if cometary)
diameter (m): > 60 (if stony)
speed (km/s): ca. 18 (?)+
+ Sekanina's opinion: from the breakup height the object was not
traveling much more than 11 km/s when it entered the atmosphere
Chelyabinsk
megatons of TNT: ca. 0.6
mass (tons): 11,000
diameter (m): 18
speed (km/s): 19
Sikhote-Alin
megatons of TNT: ca. 0.0035-0.013
mass (tons): 200-500
diameter (m): 600*
speed (km/s): 14
* apparent diameter of the bolide with its luminous envelope
Cheers,
Bernd
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