Dear List,
Spoke with Chris Zeilenga of Beecher, IL this evening. Chris reported to the Chicago Tribune that his home experienced impacts from PF material. He relayed some information that may help understand the dynamics of material dispersion in airbursts. I was interested in Chris because Beecher is quite a bit south of the current mapped strewnfield; I wanted to know what was going on.
He said they saw the light of the meteor in a north facing window which then extinguished. About a minute later they heard and felt the shockwave of the explosion and contemporaneous with the arrival of the shockwave became aware of small grains of impactor hitting thier home. Some of these grains (grayish material with some black on them) were collected and taken to Park Forest where they were "verified" as being impactor material.
I hypothesize from this account, and from the layout of the strewfield, that the lighter particles probably "ride" the shockwave away from an airburst until gravity takes over or they impact an immovable object.
Kindest Regards,
Mark
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