[meteorite-list] 2012 DA14 / Russian meteor yada yada

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2013 08:06:16 -0700
Message-ID: <5120F1E8.1020503_at_alumni.caltech.edu>

The point that Bjorn is missing, or ignoring, is it doesn't matter if
there is a debris field around DA14 (or any other NEO). All the debris
in such a field has virtually the same orbital parameters as the parent
body. Given good information about the atmospheric path of a meteor, the
original orbit of the body is unambiguously determinable. We can always
say with near complete certainty whether a given meteor is associated
with a particular body, and with absolute certainty when it is not.

Chris

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

On 2/17/2013 12:16 AM, MEM wrote:
> Facts not in evidence... Chris , one does not need to understand meteors to appreciate meteorites. We once had an enchanting if naive young lady named Julie on this list who loved to talk meteorites but she never could wrap her mind around the physics. Only in broad concepts did she try to connect the dots. (e.g the Earth has a magnetic field so iron meteorites are pulled in more than stone meteorites) But she was precious in her un-waving love of meteorites.
>
> I am a "parallel- broad-front-debris-field-believer" and someday we'll prove the existence of swarms around NEOs but this isn't the one to go to wrestle over, Bjorn. At least not that has to be resolved tonight. Lets instead savor this once in a lifetime experience and see out the facts about the meteoroid and set aside our own irritations and agree to disagree. Everyone has made some strong points but nothing can go further until we get a better handle in pre-entry mass/orbit and an actual sample of the meteorite before we start assigning a parent body.
>
> At this rate we will be invoking Goodwin's law by 5 am. Attacks on the messenger never resolve the truth in the message. Lets not pollute the goodwill nor crowd the list with the debate over perceptions and second guessing the motivations of each other.
>
> Elton
>
Received on Sun 17 Feb 2013 10:06:16 AM PST