It is not uncommon to see red and orange, especially in slower fireballs.
While the meteor is still visible (and with a smoke trail) it is moving at
hypersonic velocity, miles up. If the body slows enough before it burns up,
what's left falls slowly, dropping generally below any terminal explosion,
or below the point where the meteor stops burning.
What the witnesses saw happened before it slowed down. Nothing would have
been visible for a few minutes after that, while (maybe) meteorites were
falling. Most people don't look up, so the meteors that are widely witnessed
are usually near the horizon. People think that they are landing nearby, but
of course they are far away, sometimes hundreds of miles. What you want to
find are witnesses who saw the fireball disappear right overhead. Then you
know you're in the right place to hunt for meteorites.
Chris
*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Loeffler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'meteorite list'" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2008 6:40 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] 911 Call for "just a meteorite" - don't
missthisstory!
Very interesting, Kevin.
All: If it was a meteorite and was orangish-yellow (or maybe she said
yellowish-orange) and had a black smoke trail behind it, does that mean
that
it's still going through the atmosphere at cosmic speed and friction is
still burning it up?
If the atmosphere has slowed it down to terminal velocity and it's
free-falling around only 200 mph, it wouldn't have an ablation trail or be
fiery (as the orangish-yellow color would imply), right?
Regards,
Bob
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