I guess this explains why it did so much damage?
On Wednesday, January 27, 2010, Rob Matson <mojave_meteori...@cox.net> wrote: > Hi All, > > I finally received a good second image of the Lorton bolide smoke > trail taken immediately after the fall (and before upper atmospheric > winds distorted it). More importantly, the two images I have were > taken from sufficiently different vantage points that a good 3D > solution could be computed. (My early, somewhat hurried "first-cut" > at the trajectory was based on only a single image, and a cobbling > together of 50+ witness reports.) That first solution wasn't bad > as far as the flight direction (NNE -> SSW); however, as steep as > I made the entry angle, I didn't make it steep enough. > > The Lorton meteoroid entered at a surprisingly steep angle -- about > 15 degrees from vertical! If upper atmospheric winds had been > light, this would have made for a very tight strewnfield. But > those winds were anything but light at the time of the fall. For > instance, at 11-km altitude, the jet stream was over 90 knots! > Even down at 5-km altitude, the wind was over 40 knots. > > So here are my new impact predictions as a function of mass. > The distance and bearing columns are in miles and degrees, > respectively, relative to the impact coordinates of the 308-gram > mass: > > Mass Longitude Latitude Distance Bearing > ----- --------- -------- -------- ------- > 3 g -77.1383 38.7130 4.05 77.9 > 10 g -77.1635 38.7104 2.68 75.5 > 30 g -77.1804 38.7077 1.75 74.0 > 100 g -77.1976 38.7043 0.80 71.8 > 300 g -77.2116 38.7007 -0- N/A > 1 kg -77.2282 38.6965 0.94 252.1 > 3 kg -77.2415 38.6923 1.72 250.2 > 10 kg -77.2560 38.6874 2.57 249.0 > > As before, these coordinates (when you connect the dots) trace > out a curve of the estimated strewn field centerline. Unfortunately, > the lightest (and presumably more numerous) fragments would have > been windblown onto Ft. Belvoir. But there is still some room ENE > of the doctor's office that is not on military land, and plenty > of real estate in the "heavy direction" (WSW) if you're feeling > lucky. --Rob > > ______________________________________________ > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list