Video observations of the Peekskill meteorite fireball: Atmospheric trajectory and orbit

Statistics – Computation

Scientific paper

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Chondrites, Descent Trajectories, Fireballs, Hypervelocity Impact, Astronomical Photometry, Breccia, Fragmentation, Trajectory Analysis, Video Tapes

Scientific paper

On October 9, 1992, a fireball, brighter than the full Moon, appeared over West Virginia, traveled some 700 km in a northeasterly direction, and culminated in at least one meteorite impact. A 12.4-kg ordinary chondrite (H6 monomict breccia) was recovered in Peekskill, New York. Fortuitously, the event was captured on several video recordings. Peekskill is only the fourth meteorite to have been recovered for which detailed and precise data exist on the meteoroid atmospheric trajectory and orbit. Consequently, there are few constraints on the position of meteorites in the solar system before impact on Earth. The preliminary analysis based on 5 video recordings of this fireball are given. Preliminary computations revealed that the Peekskill fireball was an Earth-grazing event, the third such case with precise data available. The body, with an initial mass of the order of 104 kg and with initial velocity of 14.7 km/s (geocentric velocity of 10 km/s) was in a precollision orbit with a = 1.5 AU, an aphelion of slightly over 2 AU, an inclination of 5 deg and an orbital revolution of 1.8 yr. The no-atmosphere trajectory over the Earth's surface would have led to a perigee of 22 km, but the body never reached this point due to tremendous fragmentation and ablation. Our observations are also the first video records of a bright fireball and the first motion pictures of a fireball with an associated meteorite. During the second half of its flight, the fireball exhibited extensive fragmentation with several dozen individual fragments visible on some video frames. A maximum simultaneous separation of fragments was greater than 20 km. At least 70 pieces are visible on two high-resolution still photographs of the event. Details on the fragmentation dynamics of the body is presented, and the results of photometric work are discussed.

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