[meteorite-list] Meteoroid lands in Stirling area

From: Matson, Rob D. <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 8 May 2014 02:05:57 +0000
Message-ID: <4A4FA25E4DFE584AA580F4F069F9B4401CD5D004_at_EMP-EXMR104.corp.leidos.com>

Hi Shawn/List,

A few oddities in that article (which is often the case in science
articles written for general consumption). The first is the title:

> Meteoroid lands in Stirling area

This is misleading on two fronts. It may or may not have made it to
the ground (as is made clear in the body of the story). This appears
to be a case of sensationalizing in order to get people to read the
article. I personally think that if anything ~did~ make it to the
ground, Stirling is a bit far north of the most likely location.
Prevailing winds would favor a location southeast of Codrington if
the radar data is to be believed.

> Brown believes the meteoroid, coming into the atmosphere at a rate of
> anywhere from 11 to 73 kilometres per second, first appeared in the
> skies of east central Ontario late Sunday.

I'm sure Peter could constrain the velocity quite a bit better than
that. 11-73 km/sec is the range for all possible meteors. This one was
certainly not travelling at anywhere near the maximum limit of 73 km/sec.

--Rob
Received on Wed 07 May 2014 10:05:57 PM PDT