[meteorite-list] Chelyabinsk note

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2013 13:11:57 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <1361653917.78626.YahooMailClassic_at_web161305.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>

Hi all -

I'd like to remind everyone here that there were about 50 children in the hospital due to this one, and if they don't at least get crumbs in jars from it, then shame on us.

Usually in a cometary fragment bolide, most of the meteoroid is turned to plasma in the bolide, and then recondenses into spherules at altitude. Of course this was an OC stoney with a little iron, but my guess is that was not what prevented a similar process in this case.

My guess at this point is that the meteoroid itself had fractures from collisions well before entry; whether parts of any of those earlier colliders will be preserved in the samples to come we'll just have to see.

The standard bolide model has been a point explosion, and not a barrel.
We see the photons from the bolide release process; what else may have been formed will wait on later analysis. We don't even have initial light estimates published yet.

I would guess a ballistic model for the larger fragments after the bolide. How much force the bolide imparted to them is anyone's guess. First order estimates of height and speed may provide very rough trajectories.

I suppose we'll know in time if anyone recovered any down flight path videos, which will later be used to try and clear this up.

As the entry models go through refinement, atmospheric conditions will finally be factored in, but this will come later on as well.

Its clear that the normal scientific establishment's meteorite collecting skills have been exhausted, so the task of recovering samples now falls to you professional hunters and the local people.

good hunting, all
E.P.
Received on Sat 23 Feb 2013 04:11:57 PM PST