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I don’t know… — 27 Comments

  1. Hmmm… wonder what speed it was doing?Somehow I imagined they’d be a bit faster!

  2. Lucky, lucky to see it that close and lucky it was not much closer. Perhaps the Skydiver needs an insurance policy that covers future meteorite convergence.

  3. Seems pretty lucky to me, after viewing collage pix and Amundsen’s comment in the link. He’s right: if it had hit him, the investigators would never have figured it out!

  4. William Moore Says:
    April 4th, 2014 at 9:00 am

    Hmmm… wonder what speed it was doing?Somehow I imagined they’d be a bit faster!

    At that point in its flight the meteor had already been slowed by atmospheric resistance and was falling at terminal velocity, which was not much faster than the skydiver himself was traveling before he opened his parachute.

    Terminal Velocity

  5. Yet another reason not to skydive. The only valid reason for jumping out of an airplane is if the airplane is burning.

  6. Hollywood has left many with the impression that meteorites always hit the earth with great speed. Not necessarily so, as the video demonstrates. Personally, I vote for lucky. As for there being only one valid reason for jumping out of an airplane, I respectfully disagree. A life spent in avoidance of risk is… a life spent in avoiding life itself. Fears are to be confronted and overcome not permanently submitted to… our growth stops at our fears.

  7. Couldn’t someone accomplish this effect by dropping a meteorite-shaped rock out of the airplane? As a practical joke?

    Do they observe April Fools day in Norway?

    Something about this clip set off my BS-dar…

  8. The stated cause of the TWA 800 accident was an explosion in the fuel tank, set off by a short in a fuel pump. I have always doubted this because all Boeing fuel systems are essentially the same. Why hadn’t there been other instances of this sort of malfunction in any other Boeing airliners? The B-747 had been in operation for 26 years with no such occurrence and no such thing had ever happened in any other Boeing passenger jets.

    The failure zone in the fuselage looked like a rocket or other projectile had cut through the cabin wall – top to bottom. Eye witnesses claim to have seen a “streak of light” much like a rocket exhaust going up. However, if a meteorite was to come into view over the horizon, it would appear to be going up (an optical illusion) when in fact it was arching into view and heading toward Earth. My theory is that it was a meteorite about the same size as the one in this video, though maybe not
    completely burnt out. Investigators never even considered this possibility because of the astronomical odds of it not happening. This video confirms to me that it could happen. It does not, however, prove that TWA 800 was downed by a meteorite. 🙁

  9. To Geoffrey, and the “avoidance” of risk:
    Risk is mathematical, like Probability. One may increase one’s risk, or lower it, with respect to a specified event or activity. One cannot eliminate risk, nor “avoid” it if one engages in said event/activity. The risk of getting struck by lightning may be lowered from (e.g.) 1 in 100,000 to 1 in 10,000,000 by sheltering in a house instead of under the highest tree in a thunderstorm. That is risk modification, IMO.

    An (NYT?) obit several months ago described the decedent, who fell to his death while rock-climbing solo at age ~40, as “someone who loved risk” and quoted fellow climbers as to what a tragedy his death was. Uhh, no.
    From the mathematical standpoint, there was no tragedy; only mathematical certainty.

  10. USAGE POLICE:

    I always understood the hunk of rock falling from the sky to be a meteor, until the instant at which it hits the ground, whereupon it then becomes a meteorite.

    Any takers? [ smile ]

  11. M J R:

    Apparently it’s a meteor only when it’s still glowing. It’s a little unclear, though, what to call one that’s stopped glowing but hasn’t quite landed yet, although it’s entered earth’s atmosphere.

  12. MJR,

    Thank you I’d forgotten, that was always my understanding as well. Though as neo points out its a bit vague and may fluctuate in definition. A bit like whether Pluto is a planet.

    Ymarsaker,
    kinetic strikes yes, but from orbit? only in the solar realm.. meteors do not generally launch from earth orbit. Though I guess one could occasionally be caught in a decaying earth orbit…

  13. True story: About 41 years ago I was giving some thought to begin skydiving. One Sunday afternoon I went to the local club to see what it was about. Just as I arrived a skydiver had through some combination of poor skills, bad wind, or bad luck been blown far from his intended landing site. He landed in a wide grass median between two very busy highways. He managed to gather his chute in without either causing an accident or injuring himself but that was enough to convince me that I had no business jumping from a plane.

  14. Don Carlos,

    Risk can certainly be categorized mathematically but the avoidance of risk generally has far more to do with fear than with mathematical calculation.

    Risk takers with a death wish are the opposite end of the spectrum from those who would ban third hand smoke. Ironically, both might be accused of avoiding life itself…

  15. kaba,

    Perhaps a premonition? Sign from the gods?

    Then again its my impression that parachutists have some control over where they land. The event you cite might be an example of that and if so would indicate a considerable degree of skill on that parachutist’s part.

    I remember reading of one of the first female jet pilots saying that in any disaster, there is always a ‘moment or opportunity’ to escape and that recognition and decisiveness are the keys to seizing that brief moment of opportunity.

  16. I skydive and can testify that every dive is a thrill and as soon as you touch down you want to do it all over again. I’m not into free fall as much as the feeling of floating once the chute is open. I always pull at 10k feet to maximize my time in the air. Of course there is an element of risk but it is a relatively safe hobby.

    BTW, does anyone know if the diver spotted the meteorite during the dive or did he only find out after watching the video?

  17. “Then again its my impression that parachutists have some control over where they land.”

    Chutes these days are highly ‘flyable’ and unless its a very windy day, which is not a good day to dive, an experienced diver can land with precision. The landing impact is about the equivalent of stepping down from a low footstool.

  18. neo,

    From the reference to which you linked:

    “A meteor is an asteroid or other object that burns and vaporizes upon entry into the Earth’s atmosphere; meteors are commonly known as ‘shooting stars.’ If a meteor survives the plunge through the atmosphere and lands on the surface, it’s known as a meteorite.”

    The rest is mere commentary [ smile ] . . .

  19. meteorite: a mass of stone or metal that has reached the earth from outer space; a fallen meteoroid.
    meteor: 1. a meteoroid that has entered the earth’s atmosphere.
    2. transient fiery streak in the sky produced by a meteoroid passing through the earth’s atmosphere; a shooting star or bolide.
    3. any person or object that moves, progresses, becomes famous, etc., with spectacular speed.
    4. (formerly) any atmospheric phenomenon, as hail or a typhoon. From which comes the term – meteorology.

    Implied is that a meteor is glowing/fiery/incandescent and that it isn’t a meteorite until it falls to Earth.

    Well, what was in the divers camera film was not a meteor because it wasn’t glowing. It would be, from the above definitions, a meteoroid.

    Thanks to MJR for insisting on getting the terminology correct. If TWA 800 was hit by a falling space object, it would have been a meteor and the subsequent meteorite would be buried in the floor of the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York.

  20. parker:

    Apparently he sort of knew something had whizzed by, but only later understood what it must have been.

  21. “Apparently he sort of knew something had whizzed by”

    WOW! I’ve see birds close by once the chute is open, but something like the meteorite flashing by while in free fall would make my heart rate reach dangerous levels.

  22. parker Says:
    April 4th, 2014 at 7:01 pm

    WOW! I’ve see birds close by once the chute is open, but something like the meteorite flashing by while in free fall would make my heart rate reach dangerous levels.

    As far as I can tell, the meteor went by after he opened his chute. He sort of sensed something out of the corner of his eye, but never thought it was a meteor until he watched the video.

    If he had still been in free-fall, the meteor wouldn’t have been traveling much faster than he was. If he had gotten a good look at it, he might have even been able to catch it. Of course, he might have burned his hands. I don’t know how hot it still was at that point.

    See my 11:56 am link about terminal velocity:

    Based on wind resistance, for example, the terminal velocity of a skydiver in a belly-to-earth (i.e., face down) free-fall position is about 195 km/h (122 mph or 54 m/s).[2] This velocity is the asymptotic limiting value of the acceleration process, because the effective forces on the body balance each other more and more closely as the terminal velocity is approached. In this example, a speed of 50% of terminal velocity is reached after only about 3 seconds, while it takes 8 seconds to reach 90%, 15 seconds to reach 99% and so on.

    Higher speeds can be attained if the skydiver pulls in his or her limbs (see also freeflying). In this case, the terminal velocity increases to about 320 km/h (200 mph or 90 m/s),[2] which is almost the terminal velocity of the Peregrine Falcon diving down on its prey.[3] The same terminal velocity is reached for a typical .30-06 bullet dropping downwards–when it is returning to earth having been fired upwards, or dropped from a tower–according to a 1920 U.S. Army Ordnance study.[4]

    So before he opened his chute, the skydiver was falling at about 122 mph and the meteor at about 200 mph. The difference is less than the speed of a major league fastball, so it would definitely be possible to catch it if you saw it coming.

  23. I go with he didn’t see a thing until later.

    Jumpers look out and down, almost never straight up.

    The meteor / meteorite would’ve made quite a bit of noise at that speed and proximity.

    Consequently, he’d have been looking at his video practically the first chance he got.

    I’m puzzled that he didn’t discover its impact crater.

    For all we know, it could be a probe-droid looking for signs of intelligence.

  24. “so it would definitely be possible to catch it if you saw it coming.”

    I’m too old to catch the stray meteorite should one come zipping by the next time I’m in free fall. I’ll leave such antics to others who jump wearing asbestos gloves and are willing to gyrate wildly while in free fall after catching a heavy, irregularly shaped object traveling at terminal velocity. 😉

  25. An orbit is not merely planetary orbit. Sling shotting around a sun is also an orbit, so is sling shotting around the black hole at the center of the galaxy an orbit.

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