[meteorite-list] From the strewnfield of the newest meteorite fall..........

From: Mikestockj_at_aol.com <Mikestockj_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri May 28 10:22:08 2004
Message-ID: <a9.58d90dcc.2de8a48c_at_aol.com>

Hi Rob
You are correct about the Montrose fireball. It fragmented very high above
the city of Montrose. I have included the text from Chris Peterson's website
www.cloudbait.com below. He explains it much better than I could.
<The fireball began about 25 miles southeast of Montrose at a height of 75
miles, and descended steeply towards the town (47? from the vertical), exploding
at a height of 48 miles directly over the southeast corner. This event was
captured by the allsky camera at Montrose High School (the orange dot labeled
"MHS" is seen very close to the end of the meteor path). From the view of this
camera (video, 87K ), the meteor is seen to start high in the sky and rise
nearly overhead before exploding, with the final material disappearing behind the
camera.
This fireball exploded unusually high. Normally, meteoroids are much closer
to the ground before the stress of deceleration in the denser atmosphere causes
them to break up. The high altitude suggests that the parent body was
particularly fragile, possibly cometary debris or a carbonaceous chondrite. This
reduces the possibility that material survived to reach the ground. Nevertheless,
after a close examination of the decay following the terminal explosion, I
think there remains a good possibility that meteorites were formed. Although the
path makes it appear that debris would fall over Montrose, the altitude of the
breakup combined with high altitude winds that evening make it likely any
strewn field produced would actually lie about 12 miles to the northeast, between
Montrose and Crawford.>
My guess is that due to the high winds aloft it flew over Denver 3-4 hours
later then again in 24 hours, then again....well you get the "drift". I figure
if Mike Farmer and Blaine Reed could not find anything chances are not good
that anything will be found.
Mike
Mike Jensen IMCA 4264
Bill Jensen IMCA 2359
Jensen Meteorites
16730 E Ada PL
Aurora, CO 80017-3137
303-337-4361
Web Site: Jensen Meteorites
New Book: Meteorites from A to Z
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