[meteorite-list] "The high-pitched scream"?

From: Mark Crawford <mark_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:34:01 +0000
Message-ID: <4788DDE9.5040701_at_meteorites.cc>

Hi folks,

On another forum someone posted about a recent TV programme he'd watched
about NEOs. At the end the guest astronomer said something to the
effect that "the first we know about an incoming impactor could be the
high-pitched scream as it speeds through the atmosphere."

It got me wondering; a sizeable body would be travelling at cosmic (ie
very supersonic) velocity right through to impact, and therefore the
"scream" should trail behind the object - in other words, we wouldn't
even get that much warning.

Was the speaker using poetic license or would there be any kind of
fore-shock?

Mark

-- 
Mark's Meteorite Pages: http://meteorites.cc

Received on Sat 12 Jan 2008 10:34:01 AM PST