[meteorite-list] Meteor Crater Impactor?

From: bernd.pauli at paulinet.de <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: 10 Sep 2010 09:51:00 UT
Message-ID: <DIIE.0000009A0000500B_at_paulinet.de>

Eric wondered:

"Can someone tell me the proposed/accepted angle of descent
of the asteroid which formed Meteor Crater in AZ?"

The trajectory of the impacting body was interpreted by Shoemaker
as traveling north-northwest at a relatively low impact angle.

and furthermore:

"Wikipedia has the impactor at 50 meters across,
and velocity at 12.8 km/s. Is this accurate?"

The authors write themeteorite had a velocity in the range of about 13 to 20 km/s,
probably in the lower part of this range and estimated the coherent meteorite diameter
to have been 45-50 m with a mass of 300,000 - 400,000 tons!

Reference:

D.J. Roddy, E.M. Shoemaker (1995) Meteor Crater: Summary
of impact conditions (Meteoritics 30-5, 1995, p. 567).

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Best wishes,

Bernd
Received on Fri 10 Sep 2010 05:51:00 AM PDT