[meteorite-list] re: Mystery Surrounds Green Meteor in Australia

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed May 17 13:22:07 2006
Message-ID: <200605171720.KAA20984_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

>
>
> I don't understand why space junk, rather than a meteoric fireball, is almost
> always being picked out as the most likely explanation by these observatory
> spokesmen whenever a bright fireball has been sighted. The point is that space
> junk decays are relatively rare compared to meteoric fireballs - so they are
> picking the least likely option.

It is more common than you think. For example, in the past month, 9 pieces
of space junk have reentered into Earth's atmosphere.
 
> Moreover, these commenters do not seem to be aware that you can actually *check*
> whether something is a space junk decay or not. That stuff is being tracked!
> Virtually everything larger than a football in Low Earth Orbit has been catalogued.

I checked. There was a SL-12 debris reentry scheduled for May 15, which may be
a possibility for the meteor observed in Australia.

Ron Baalke
 
Received on Wed 17 May 2006 01:20:02 PM PDT