Questions tagged [meteorites]

Questions about objects that enter the Earth's atmosphere from space.

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Azimuth and Altitude of a Meteor Shower

What is a reliable source to understand the Azimuth and Altitude of a meteor shower at a specific geographic location at an instant of time for observation?
Smarty's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
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Are there occurrances of monel (nickel-copper) meteorite materials?

This question is prompted by a Space.com article on the metallic Psyche asteroid - Wendy Caldwell, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, told Space.com that some of her most promising ...
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Will Ataxite be the type of nickel-iron sought for asteroid mining?

The high value metals in meteorites and asteroids - mostly Platinum Group Metals - appear associated with the nickel content (The Occurrence of Platinum in Meteorites, F. G. Hawley,1939), ie the ...
Ken Fabian's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
134 views

What is the methodology to determine a meteorite strike vs space debris?

From this tweet, it seems the ISS Soyuz that sprung a leak in December was damaged by a micrometeorite Here's little bit more info on Soyuz MS-22 impact. The trajectory analysis very strongly points ...
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1 answer
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Where are the meteorite remnants related to the craters they've produced on the moon?

On Earth, in every crater there's usually at least some remnant of a meteorite. But with all the craters on the Moon, where are the meteorites in the middle of them?
user118161's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
324 views

How much more likely is it for a colony on Mars to receive a damaging meteorite hit than a similar structure on Earth?

Meteorite damage probability is low both on Mars and Earth, but Earth has a thick atmosphere, which Mars does not. The thinner atmosphere on Mars should yield some increase of impact probability. Is ...
Dims's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
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Did the rovers' cruise balance masses have a noticeable impact on Mars?

Perseverance (2021) and Curiosity (2012) each ejected, among many other things, two tungsten "cruise balance masses" before reaching Mars's atmosphere, each about 70 kg. Were their impacts ...
Camille Goudeseune's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
135 views

Does Perseverance's SuperCam include a Martian meteorite? If so, why?

An automotive blog claims that There actually seems to be another Martian meteorite being sent to Mars, as part of the SuperCam calibration target. Shouldn’t we be keeping all the Mars rocks we have ...
Camille Goudeseune's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is the danger of creating micrometeorite clouds orbiting the Moon by constantly landing spacecrafts on its surface?

It is a well-known fact that when meteorite hits surface of the Moon, a part of debris can end up on Earth because the escape velocity for Moon is low - 2.38km/s. A similar effect can be achieved by ...
WOW 6EQUJ5's user avatar
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4 votes
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Is Earth's Moon gaining or losing mass?

The Earth gains mass from dust/meteors (and a tiny, tiny bit to increasing temperatures/energy), but loses mass from hydrogen/helium escaping and nuclear reactions. It's estimated to have a net loss ...
Nate Lowry's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
227 views

How long can a high altitude balloon fly before a meteor hits it?

The balloon has a lighter than air gas in it. It flies at 30 km above sea level. It is spherical, with a radius not exceeding five hundred meters. How long can it fly before a meteor pokes a hole in ...
Peter Martyn's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
596 views

99.99% pure iron meteorite [closed]

[![enter image description here][1]][1] I have a 99.99% pure iron meteorite. It is 4,902 grams.
bryen macintyre's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
430 views

How was the 18 December 2018 Bering Sea Fireball detected and characterized? Was it a serendipity or a weather satellite?

The map at Fireball and Bolide Data is reproduced in the BBC News article US detects huge meteor explosion with the 2013 Chelyabinsk event and the recent 18-Dec0281 Bering Sea event annotated. The ...
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
351 views

What do the insulation and meteorite protection layers being opened on the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft look like?

This current news item in TASS Russian cosmonaut Kononenko approaches Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft for inspection says: Earlier in the day, the two Russian cosmonauts began their six-hour spacewalk, ...
uhoh's user avatar
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22 votes
3 answers
2k views

Can we expect to find pure iron or only nickel-iron alloys in asteroids?

Relatively pure iron has more uses and potential value than nickel-iron alloys. Separating those nickel-iron alloys commonly found in meteorites and expected to be common in asteroids (Kamecite, ...
Ken Fabian's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
133 views

How are meteoroids, asteroids and debris in space tracked?

How far, small, and fast can meteors be detected?
Muze's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
157 views

What is used to monitor objects burning up in the atmosphere on descent?

Tiangong 1 is expected to fall out of orbit and burn up somewhere this weekend. On March 12, 2018 people all over Western Washington State reported a flash and loud boom which is believed to be a ...
Dan Sorensen's user avatar
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10 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is it possible for something to fall straight down to earth? What are the requirements?

Meteorites leave strewn-fields before impacting, SpaceX rockets come in at an angle and stand up straight at the last second, the Soyuz capsule doesn't fall straight. I assume this has to do with the ...
user1886419's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
436 views

Why doesn't the perchlorate on Mars' surface oxidize metallic meteorites?

"Egg Rock" is a smooth, shiny nickel-iron meteorite found sitting on the surface of Mars on 30-Oct-2016. It is described the next day in Arizona State University's Red Planet Report website: Curiosity:...
uhoh's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
855 views

Who discovered "Egg Rock"? The Curiosity rover or people?

"Egg Rock" is a smooth, shiny nickel-iron meteorite found sitting on the surface of Mars on Curiosity's Sol 1505, or 30-Oct-2016. It is described the next day in Arizona State University's ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 148k
8 votes
1 answer
13k views

What impact would a pea size meteor have when it hits the ground?

If a meteorite the size of a pea landed on the road in front of you, what sort of impact would it have? How big would it have been when it entered the atmosphere and would it have been visible during ...
Rian's user avatar
  • 183
8 votes
3 answers
2k views

Is there a meteorite from Earth on Mars?

No body is immune to impact by other bodies. Earth too is no stranger to body-play; Micro-micro meteorites accumulate by the giga-ton annually in the form of dust. Larger impact bodies such as the ...
Everyone's user avatar
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63 votes
5 answers
23k views

Is a Moon-base inherently more dangerous than a Space Station?

Living in space is pretty dangerous, and the wonderful people of the ISS float around the Earth at risk of radiation and micrometeoroids. I'm curious if they're any more safe than if they simply were ...
simontemplar's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
289 views

Minimum size meteoroids for meteorites on Earth, Mars, and the Moon?

What approximate size range, considering the different construction and composition, must meteoroids be to become meteorites on Earth, Mars, and the Moon?
10 cls's user avatar
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5 votes
0 answers
736 views

Method to estimate asteroid density based on spectral type

It's easy to get spectral information about asteroids, from the JPL database for instance. They often have an albedo estimation, but almost never have a mass estimate (if you have albedo and mass, ...
AlanSE's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
722 views

Have any missions suffered damage from meteorites whilst on the Lunar surface?

Earth's magnetic field, and atmosphere shield the surface. Space debris that would otherwise cause damage lose a fair amount of mass and velocity in transit through these layers. Luna lacking such ...
Everyone's user avatar
  • 13.8k
11 votes
1 answer
171 views

What existing technologies record data on meteors?

As per the title, I'm curious about technologies that would detect previously unknown objects like the Chelyabinsk Meteor as they enter the atmosphere. An answer that could satisfy some or all of the ...
Anthony Neace's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
538 views

Does the Perseid peak affect mission launches?

Tonight (Aug 12 2013) is the annual peak of the Perseid meteor shower. Since meteors are chunks of rock flying through the atmosphere at crazy high speeds, I'm wondering if there are any ...
Undo's user avatar
  • 18k
15 votes
6 answers
10k views

What maximum speeds can be expected from meteorites?

Yes, I know, c is the limit, but let's say we want to build a shelter that will be meterorite-impact-proof, on the Moon, or some asteroid or anywhere without the atmosphere. We can spot anything ...
SF.'s user avatar
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21 votes
4 answers
6k views

What's the (particle) density of the asteroid belt?

Obviously the asteroid belt is pretty sparsly populated. But how sparsly exactly? What is the state of knowledge regarding how many particles are there in a given size bracket and a volume, what ...
mart's user avatar
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