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Historical Meteorites |
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Pultusk,
H5 |
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Historical Meteorites |
|
Pultusk,
H5 |
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| Pultusk is a very historical meteorite fall because it is the largest
known meteorite shower on record. An estimated 2000kg fell a few miles north
of Warsaw, Poland. It is also estimated that about 100,000 stones fell!
The stone vere very small and a single stone from the fall is often
referred to as a "Pultusk pea." Initially a bright fireball was seen, followed by several detonations. According to Norton (1998), the meteoroid became visible at an altitude of almost 200 miles, which also makes it the highest fireball on record seen by the naked eye! The point at which the meteoroid ceased to generate light (termed the terminal altitude) was about 25 miles. This resulted in an unusually wide fall path and meteorite fragments resembling Pultusk were found in Madagascar, Italy and Russia.The elliptical strewn field was 5 miles x 1 mile. Much early research into the nature of meteors and meteorites involved the Pultusk shower, particularly with regard to meteores having originated from an elliptical vs. hyperbolic orbit. The debate during the later part of the 19th century and into the 20th century as whether or not meteors (and hence meteorites) originated within the solar system or were extra-solar in nature. A meteor whose orbit was elliptical was obviously a member of the solar system and a meteor whose orbit was hyperbolic obviously originated outside the solar system. Johan Galle calculated that the heliocentric velocity was at least 56 km /second (an extremly fast velocity) and therefore the oribt of the Pultusk meteoroid was necessarily hyperbolic. Galle's calculations were not doubted until the 1930s and 40s and most scientiess today believe that meteorites originate in elliptical orbits. |
