[meteorite-list] First Study of Chelyabinsk Meteorite

From: Chris Peterson <clp_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 08:00:09 -0700
Message-ID: <527BAAF9.2010605_at_alumni.caltech.edu>

Jeff-

For comparison, S-A was a 100 ton body traveling at 14 km/s, and its
energy output was about 10 kT. Chelyabinsk was a 10,000 ton body
traveling at 30 km/s, and its energy output was about 500 kT. So these
two events were in completely different classes. Had S-A been stony, no
material would have arrived at the ground above terminal velocity, and
we'd treat it as a much more ordinary event. Nothing like a few craters
to make a fall seem much more energetic than it actually was.

Chris

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

On 11/7/2013 5:13 AM, Jeff Kuyken wrote:
> Thanks for these interesting posts Ron.
>
> I keep hearing lines like "Chelyabinsk was the largest meteoroid strike
> since the Tunguska event". What about Sikhote-Alin? Does anyone know if
> there are any accurate modellings on that fall in terms of size, weight and
> energy? I would be interested to see a comparison.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jeff Kuyken
> Meteorites Australia
> www.meteorites.com.au
Received on Thu 07 Nov 2013 10:00:09 AM PST