[meteorite-list] Triangulation

From: Doug Ross <doug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:10:59 -0700
Message-ID: <5D1AF255-DC36-49EC-AACD-CC44586A4DC7_at_dougross.net>

Hi Al and Doug,

Thanks for your interest in my question about meteorite recoveries based on triangulation. Harvey Nininger certainly seems to be a likely candidate for the first hunter to have pulled this off. "Rocks from Space" credits him as the first person to locate a meteorite from fireball reports, and includes an account of Nininger correctly tracking the 1933 Pasamonte fireball to a specific ranch in New Mexico (though when he got there, a ranch hand had already recovered stones). I fear the farther back we look into historic falls, the less certainty we can have that triangulation alone led to recovery, since most of the finders are no longer available to give detailed accounts of the recovery.

Maybe a better question would be to what extent has the advent of triangulation enhanced the recovery rate for witnessed falls? Regardless of what other tips or assistance might have been employed, has the refinement of fireball trajectory calculations led to a significantly higher recovery rate for witnessed falls? I would assume so. But it would be interesting to compare, say, 19th century recovery rates vs. 20th century recovery rates.

Of course, it's easy for me to pose these kinds of questions. Not so easy to come up with the answers! ;-)

Doug Ross
doug at dougross.net
Received on Thu 27 Oct 2011 12:10:59 AM PDT