Premium
THE INNISFREE METEORITE FALL: A PHOTOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF FRAGMENTATION, DYNAMICS AND LUMINOSITY
Author(s) -
Halliday Ian,
Griffin Arthur A.,
Blackwell Alan T.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
meteoritics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 0026-1114
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1981.tb00540.x
Subject(s) - meteorite , astrophysics , physics , astronomy , asteroid , luminosity , photometry (optics) , atmosphere (unit) , geology , geodesy , meteorology , stars , galaxy
The Innisfree meteorite was the third fall for which accurate orbital data were secured from a camera network. Nine fragments were found within three months of the fall with a total mass of 4.58 kg. The ellipse of fall is unusually small because of the steep path in the atmosphere. The photograph from the Vegreville station reveals six trails below 26 km and these are correlated with the six main fragments, all with masses in excess of 300 g. A photometric study indicates that Innisfree had a peak absolute magnitude M pan = −12.1 at a height of 36 km. The recovered meteorites provide known masses for the late stages of the photographic trails which, combined with dynamical data, allow luminous efficiencies to be derived with unusual confidence. Late in the flight where shock wave effects dominate ablation, luminous efficiencies vary from 3 × 10 −5 to 5 × 10 −2 for velocities between 3 and 10 km s −1 and masses from 0.3 to 2.0 kg. The mean luminous efficiency for the entire flight is estimated between 4 × 10 −2 and 8 × 10 −2 .