A meteorite that got away

Abstract

The mass and brightness are estimated for a meteorite which passed through the atmosphere without touching the ground and was observed over the northwestern part of North America. It is noted that the ultimate mass of a meteorite should be derived from its deceleration and that the ablated mass must also be calculated in order to obtain the initial mass. The deceleration, ablation, and brightness are calculated for the present meteorite on the basis of two composition models: a stony meteorite and a hard cometary dustball. The results suggest that this object probably was a hard cometary dustball.