Comments on: Pictures of Canadian Meteorite Fragments

By: burk

burk — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:28:17 +0000

An estimate of asteroidal material between orbit of Mercury and Jupiter suggests that approximately 20×10exp21 ton of metal and rock exist in the inner solar system in the form of asteroids and unbound particles. This is about four times the mass of the Earth. The true quantity must be twice this figure. It is obvious that there is more to the inner solar system than what appears. One thing is for certain: genesis of the Earth is a continuing process. It would be wise to leave
meteorites alone on the ground where they have fallen.

By: par3182

par3182 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:11:00 +0000

homer simpson was right: "it'll burn up in our atmosphere and whatever's left will be no bigger than a chihuahua's head"

By: James

James — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:32:32 +0000

Hey, Ms. Milley, Bet you could use some more tuition money. Just one small one would do. Say 15 grammer or so? Dr. Hillenbrand wouldn't even know it was gone!

By: Anthonyx2

Anthonyx2 — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:49:35 +0000

That looks a lot like the tip of an iceberg. Hopefully many more pieces will show up.

Yeah, maybe someone threw a handful of pieces on the pond to get all the trespassers off the scent of the real location…

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:57:00 +0000

This rock won't of seen too much….it has no eyes.

By: bigguylittlecoat

bigguylittlecoat — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:29:28 +0000

how far do you think it travelled before reaching us?
Imagine what this rock has seen!

By: OilIsMastery

OilIsMastery — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:05:34 +0000

What meteorite? I don't see the meteorite. All I see is Ms. Milley.

By: No

No — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:05:18 +0000

First!!!1!1!!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:39:28 +0000

"Wow so small, I expected something much bigger!"

That's what she said that's what she said that's what she said!

That feels much better…

By: okinawa

okinawa — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:19:55 +0000

Wow so small, I expected something much bigger!

By: Dan Tillmanns

Dan Tillmanns — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:38:47 +0000

Well, what made the Barringer crater in Arizona? I thought that iron meteorites stuck together and made holes while the rocky ones broke apart.
Sometimes, this kind of news on TV can be funny. KNBC-TV has a good weather bookie (Dallas Raines).
Once, some years ago, a sizeable meteorite was tracked into the nearby Rose Valley. On TV, Mr Raines suggested that people head for the Rose Valley to look for pieces.
Unfortunately, the Rose Valley contains millions of volcanic bombs from the cinder cone there. An expert might be able to spot a meteorite fragment but to the average person these things look alike.

By: George

George — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:27:46 +0000

Wow, just wow. Some of the things that go on beyond our planet are comprehensible, until tomorrow.

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:59:30 +0000

Is that it !!!! SHEEEESH. Please, print something when you actually know you have it. That could of been planted.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:58:13 +0000

Can I have it please?

By: Gavin Flower

Gavin Flower — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:05:38 +0000

# Joel Says:
"…Larger objects will likely retain higher velocities due to their greater mass…"

True, but probably more relevant is the ratio of mass to meteor's surface area. This assumes that the braking affect of the air is proportional to surface area (which is probably an over simplification!).

More specifically it will depend on the initial kinetic energy when it hits the Earth's atmosphere and the force of deceleration caused by atmospheric drag. Also we both implicitly assumed that the meteor would not simply burn up…

Anyhow, I would expect that if 2 meteors of the same mass and kinetic energy hit at the same angle… then the denser one would hit the ground at a faster speed.

Hmm… when one starts to think about it, there are a huge number of factors to consider, in order to decide even one impact parameter!

-Gavin

By: Feenixx

Feenixx — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:27:01 +0000

Hunnter asks
"Is it just me, or does it freak anyone else out that large pieces like this are hitting the ground?"

It used to spook me, too…. until a chunk about the size of the piece in the picture (but more nicely rounded) hit the roof of a neighbour's house. I would have expected it to leave a ruin behind – three or four broken tiles was the total extend of the damage.

Another one was seen streaking all the way across the Eastern US of A and ended up hitting a car in NYC. It smashed the left front wing and headlight – nobody was injured.

I've heard of (and have seen) a lot more damage done by rocks thrown by people at things (or other people) than rocks falling out of the sky. They are also usually a lot more targeted…….. and there are plenty of people who do this sort of thing.
Now, that's REALLY scary!

By: Maxwell

Maxwell — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:37:28 +0000

It could have hit right there, too.
There may have been enough heat in the rock to melt the ice it impacted, then it would have refroze in place. Making it hard to see any spiderwebbing cracks.

No doubt there will be ebay scams and profiteers trying to sell anything they find… but hopefully they can preserve all the debris sites before it gets out of hand.

By: Rafael

Rafael — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:14:21 +0000

Fascinating stuff. The fragment might've hit somewhere else on the pond or the surrounding ground, then slid or skipped around – being still warm from entry, melted the ice and sank to its present position.

By: Abrachus

Abrachus — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:00:18 +0000

Don't be surprised if pieces of this rock will surface on internet, summing up to tens of tons!

By: Hunnter

Hunnter — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:31:00 +0000

@ bse5150
I should certainly hope so.

I wonder if someone else found it, they could sell it on.

By: bse5150

bse5150 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:39:41 +0000

Aren't those little pieces worth a small fortune?

By: Joel

Joel — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:20:56 +0000

It depends on the mass and velocity of the object and the density altitude at impact. Terminal velocity of smaller objects at density altitudes of ~4,000 feet or less is ~120 mph. Larger objects will likely retain higher velocities due to their greater mass. For example, the recent meteor strike in Peru near Lake Titicaca in Sept. 2007 left an impact crater approximately 30m. across and 19m. deep, at an elevation above 12,500ft. .

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:20:06 +0000

You'd think that ice would be cracked a bit around the impact site, at least several meteor diameters away from the meteor. I guess it's possible that the entire pond melted a bit during warm weather or from sunshine after the meteor struck before refreezing. That would explain the relatively fresh looking ice around the impact site. Alternately the meteor came in at a steep angle and bounced to its present location after hitting land or some other spot on the ice. Some melting appears to have ocurred within one diameter of the rock as evidenced by the swirly pattern in the ice around the meteor. Some photos taken with a polarizing filter might better show the effects of the meteor on the original ice.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:20:32 +0000

These are probably ordinary chondrites, early analysis seems to show.

By: Antti o

Antti o — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:06:26 +0000

Thank you, Maxwell !