![]() From these data, Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario and his colleagues were able to estimate the size of the object that hit the Earth's atmosphere, and how much energy was released during its passage. Infrared and optical sensors on the satellites detected the light output of the fireball, while infrasound detectors and seismographs picked up the airwaves generated by the meteor. The Tagish Lake fireball was detected by a wide variety of sensors. Why they were out at dawn on a cold winter's day is simply beyond my comprehension. Traveling south-southeast, the exceptionally bright fireball was witnessed by numerous observers. Entering the atmosphere over the Canadian Arctic, the fireball was detected by down-looking US satellites tasked to look for such mundane man-made events as ICBM launches. This was the fall of the Tagish Lake meteorite. Such an event occurred at local dawn on Januover the skies of Alaska, the Northwest and Yukon territories, and British Columbia. It is still an important object for scientific study, but because it is a common type of meteorite, it adds only incrementally to our understanding of the formation of the solar system.Ī much rarer event is the very bright fireball that promises an especially large meteorite, and it is a very rare event indeed when this promised behemoth turns out to be an unusual type of meteorite. As the name implies, this is a very common type of meteorite. The Peekskill meteorite is of a type known as an ordinary chondrite. This spectacular fireball was witnessed by thousands as it streaked northeast across the skies of the Mid-Atlantic States, before smashing into the trunk of a parked car in Peekskill, New York. A recent example of this is the fall of the Peekskill meteorite in 1992. These sometimes result in the recovery of meteorites that can be studied by scientists to uncover the secrets of the solar system. A rarer event is a bright fireball streaking across the sky. However, these grains burn-up in the upper atmosphere and don't reach the ground as meteorites. This occurs when the Earth plows through dust expelled from comet Temple-Tuttle as it travels through the inner solar system - in 2002 we went through a particularly concentrated dust tail, resulting in the excellent Leonid display. You, dear web-surfer, may have witnessed the recent spectacular Leonid meteor shower. This debris is mostly dust- to sand-sized rocky bits shed by comets or asteroids. 703-712.Įvery year, the Earth is pelted by debris that occupies the void between the planets. (2002) Geochemistry of the ungrouped carbonaceous chondrite Tagish Lake, the anomalous CM chondrite Bells, and comparison with CI and CM chondrites, Meteoritics and Planetary Science, v. Tagish Lake is a new type of primitive meteorite that will surely shed light on how the solar system formed. The calculations show that it hails from the outer asteroid belt, in a place where dark, carbon- and water-rich asteroids reside. Observations of its trajectory allowed scientists to calculate its path through the solar system. Studies show that the meteorite is intermediate in composition between the two most primitive groups of chondrite meteorites, CI and CM carbonaceous chondrites. Many pieces landed on the frozen Tagish Lake, allowing scientists to recover numerous samples, and giving the meteorite its name. Pieces of a 56-metric-ton meteorite rained down over a wide area of Canada on January 18, 2000. Tagish Lake - A Meteorite from the Far Reaches of the Asteroid Belt - A new type of primitive meteorite with much to tell us about the formation of the solar system.
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