[meteorite-list] Fireball question / sonic boom

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:37:40 -0600
Message-ID: <3EE8FE903ADE42EA81D7ADFFF7E3D702_at_bellatrix>

The vast majority of meteorites retard while they are still far too high for
sonic booms to reach the ground. The big, impressive fireballs that are more
massive and reach lower heights are the exceptions. The meteoroids that slow
down while still high are more likely to produce single meteorites; those
that have enough mass to reach low altitudes still traveling at high speed
tend to fragment and produce strewn fields.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message -----
From: <GeoZay at aol.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 11:12 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Fireball question / sonic boom


>>>The
> absence of one, however, probably shouldn't be taken as an indicator that
> they were not, since a meteor can still end (without complete ablation)
> high
> enough that no sonic boom will reach the ground.<<
>
>
> Wouldn't these(meteorites) that are high enuf that no sonic boom will
> reach the ground end up being rather small meteorites? This because a
> small
> meteorite will be slowed down rather quickly higher up. The larger
> meteorites
> having more momentum to carry it on down to the lower atmosphere will
> still
> have a velocity fast enuf to produce the big thunder like sonics?
> GeoZay
Received on Wed 30 Mar 2011 01:37:40 AM PDT