[meteorite-list] Visiting Meteor Crater
From: bernd.pauli_at_paulinet.de <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Dec 12 14:44:24 2005 Message-ID: <DIIE.00000017000040BB_at_paulinet.de> Scientists at the University of Arizona recently announced that the meteor was traveling at 26,800 miles per hour when it smashed into the Earth, significantly slower than the original estimation of 44,000 mph. This part of the information is not quite new to most of us. 26,800 mph correponds to 11,16 km/s and 44,000mph equals 18,33 km/s. Here is an excerpt from a 1995 article in MAPS: D.J. Roddy and E.M. Shoemaker (1995) Meteor Crater: Summary of impact conditions (Meteoritics 30-5, 1995, page 567): .. the meteorite had a velocity in the range of about 13 to 20 km/s, probably in the lower part of this range ..., the coherent meteorite diameter is estimated to have been 45-50 m with a mass of 300,000 - 400,000 t, i.e., large enough to experience less than 1% in both mass ablation and velocity deceleration. During this time, minor flake-off of the meteorite's exterior produced a limited number of smaller fragments that followed the main mass to the impact site, but at greatly reduced velocities. Regards, Bernd Received on Mon 12 Dec 2005 02:44:10 PM PST |
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