[meteorite-list] possible Alabama lunar meteorite fall

From: Bill Cooke <cookewj_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2018 16:18:41 -0600
Message-ID: <C508DEDB-636E-424E-9D24-5A38AE7CBC77_at_comcast.net>

I can answer this, as we got enough data from our meteor cameras to compute an orbit. It was very similar to that of Earth (semi major axis of 1 AU, eccentricity < 0.1) with an inclination within 2 standard deviations of that of the Moon. This means we are either dealing with an evolved orbit (most likely) or lunar ejecta (much less likely, but not impossible).

Bill Cooke
NASA Meteoroid Environment Office
(Sent from my iPad)

> On Nov 18, 2018, at 4:01 PM, Anne Black via Meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> wrote:
>
> Randy, Rob,
>
> What makes you think that it could be a Lunar?
> Yes, I read the article, and it is just mentioned as a "possibility".
>
> Your opinions?
>
> Anne Black
> IMPACTIKA.com
> impactika at aol.com
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matson, Rob D. via Meteorite-list <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Sun, Nov 18, 2018 12:31 pm
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] possible Alabama lunar meteorite fall
>
>
> Hi Randy,
>
> It hadn't been mentioned yet on the Met-List. I worked this fall last week (unaware
> that Marc Fries had already done so), so the fortunate result of the independent
> analysis is that two people came up with the same answer and the exact same
> radar returns. (I also analyzed the Carrollton, AL, seismic station data which has
> an unmistakable sonic boom just 106 seconds after the terminal burst of the
> bolide.) I'm 100% sure these returns are associated with the fall since they are
> practically colocated with the seismometer.
>
> Upper atmospheric winds were high at the time of the fall -- jet stream was
> about 125 knots blowing almost due east. This is why the Doppler radar
> returns subsequent to the initial high-altitude westerb return at 15 km are
> displaced to the east of it. At the altitudes below the 2.5-km altitude radar
> cluster, the winds were below 30 knots and blowing more to the southeast
> or ESE. This is supported by the small southeastward shift from the central,
> linear-looking return, and the wider cluster to its lower right that was
> scanned less than a minute later. The first place I would search would be
> the southeast edge of the 2.5-km altitude cluster.
>
> Unfortunately, this is a tough search area. --Rob
> ________________________________________
>
> From: Meteorite-list [meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] on behalf of Korotev, Randy via Meteorite-list [meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com]
> Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2018 8:26 AM
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: EXTERNAL: [meteorite-list] possible Alabama lunar meteorite fall
>
> If there has been discussion of this on the List, I missed it
>
> https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/meteorite-falls/
>
> ~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
> Randy L. Korotev
> Research Professor, retired
> Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences
> Washington University in Saint Louis
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Received on Sun 18 Nov 2018 05:18:41 PM PST