Comments on: Meteor propter hoc

By: Chris P

Chris P — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 04:31:02 +0000

OK – Hoerner says the drag coefficient of a meteorite is around 2. SO – Somebody needs to cite a real reference that gives the pressure drag/ friction drag breakdown.

There are several reasons why it may not be so hot when it reaches the ground. Ablation obviously occurs and heat build may be counterbalanced by heat transfer back into the air.

I’m not satisfied with glib.

Chris P

By: IVAN3MAN

IVAN3MAN — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:25:26 +0000

@ Tom Marking,

That’s what I mean! There was nothing wrong with the URL, but my post still got spammed!

By: Tom Marking

Tom Marking — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:15:13 +0000

There is definitely something wrong with this topic. It won’t accept any large post with or without URLs.

By: Tom Marking

Tom Marking — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:07:44 +0000

@IVAN3MAN “but it got ’spammed’ both times by your so-called anti-spam filter!”

Are we back to mangling the URL’s once more? Sigh! Moan! Sigh!

By: Paul Green

Paul Green — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:27:04 +0000

I saw this fireball over Auckland (or at least the initial flash of light and looked up to see the glowing orange trail across the night sky). It was personally one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. But I knew immediately what it must have been.

I was amused later to hear that people were ascribing the Ponsonby fire to this! Personally I would describe the meteor fireball as originating in the West and travelling towards the ESE. I live West of the suburb of Ponsonby in Auckland about 20 km out. It’s “apparent” trajectory was therefore “towards” the city. But it was also apparent to me that it was at a very high altitude. I have also heard of eye witnesses to this event as far south as Motueka in the South Island of New Zealand. Which I think confirms the high altitude. I’m obviously no expert but I would think these things rule out any possibility of a landfall in or around Auckland city.

By: IVAN3MAN

IVAN3MAN — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:19:03 +0000

Phil Plait, I tried twice to submit an abstract of an article — with a link — which gave a possible explanation to the Carancas impact event that Tom Marking referred to above, but it got ’spammed’ both times by your so-called anti-spam filter!

Fortunately, I wrote it out on WordPad and saved it on my computer’s hard-drive. So, it’s not a problem for me to resubmit it, if you’re interested;
otherwise, you can live in ignorance.

By: flynjack

flynjack — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 04:02:00 +0000

On the more serious side meteors have fusion crust on the exterior from the heating on entry. this crust is very thin and wears off in the atmosphere from rain and weather (thus most meteors look very much like common rocks to the untrained). Meteors do get hot, only they cool considerably in the lower atmosphere before they hit dirt. Fresh fallen meteorites have been picked up and were only warm to the touch. I agree with Phil this fire is far more likely to have been caused by human causes, I’d put my money on that!