[meteorite-list] Andromedids and Mazapil - Part 1 of 2

From: Bernd Pauli HD <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:48:14 2004
Message-ID: <3BDD6896.EDEBB84_at_lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>

herbert wrote:

> Another meteorite that is claimed to be part of
> a meteorite stream is the IAB iron Mazapil. It fell
> during the Andromedid meteor shower in 1885. If
> this is more than a coincidence, it would mean that
> the parent body of this iron meteorite is the famous
> comet 3D/Biela.

Hello Herbert and List,

Here is an excerpt from Buchwald:

BUCHWALD, V.F. (1975) Handbook of Iron
Meteorites, Volume 2, pp. 808-813:

Bonilla noted that the "raining stars" mentioned by the
finder must have been meteors associated with the comet
Biela-Gambart, which had been discovered in 1826. The
comet, for which all orbital elements had been calculated
(e.g., period: 6.62 years), had also been observed in 1832,
but had been considered lost since it, in 1846, was seen to
separate in two parts, and to steadily diminish in size during
1852. Bonilla concluded that the Mazapil iron meteorite,
which fell when the Earth passed through the Biela cometary
orbit, represented cometary debris. Unfortunately, it appears
that nobody at the time of fall collected such information from
eye witnesses so that a trajectory and a radiant could be calculated
in order to verify Bonilla's conclusion. As the case is now, the
proposed association between the Mazapil meteorite and the Biela
comet must remain a postulate.
Received on Mon 29 Oct 2001 09:32:54 AM PST