Skydiver narrowly missed by meteorite

The burn phase is so brief that only the surface gets hot, forming a fusion crust. The interior can still be icy.

The only idea of temperature we have on that video is that the surface was not glowing hot. Several of the earlier links indicate that the glowing phase ends much earlier, even before the meteor drops to terminal velocity. Floating down at 100-200 mph, it shouldn't take long for 'wind chill' to cool off the fusion crust enough to not be smoking. I don't recall most witnessed falls (usually a whoosh and a thump or crash, accompanied by a newly discovered rock later verified to be a meteorite) reporting a smoke trail.

Most meteors do burn up or fragment to dust before falling to earth. But museums and researchers and collectors still have collected zillions of items that made it all the way to the ground.

I am skeptical only because of the exceptionally low probability of capturing this on video. The probability of a hoax is just so much higher. But the other reasons for skepticism expressed in this thread just don't hold up to the real nature of meteor behavior in the lower atmosphere, the troposhere. Their fireworks happen two layers higher, in the mesosphere (above the stratosphere).

 

Probably a piece of fossilized crap from an airplane commode.

 

According to geologist Hans Amundsen - of the Natural History Museum in Oslo - this is the first ever film of a meteorite falling through its dark flight stage.

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this. Meteorites are worth big money so a intense search would be on to find the (possible) jackpot at the end of a somewhat known trajectory. Finding that would make this an interesting conclusion.

 

Other reports indicate that, having video of its fall, this meteorite would be far more valuable than normal. But the skydiver who taped it has already spent considerable time looking for it, without success.

 

Phil Plait's blog talks about this. Given everything he knows of the subject, he is 95% convinced that the incident was real.

 

Update: Much more info came in from a whole lot of experts which included a lot of skydivers. Phil is now 95% certain it was only a very small rock that was stuck in the parachute, which happens often. Apparently, many skydivers roll up their chutes in the field after they land, and a lot of crap gets wrapped into the chute as well. Case closed?

 

Now THAT I believe. Lol.

SCH-I535

 

Yup. And both theories were believable early on too. The weirder theory was the falling meteoroid. Stories go viral when unusual and sound fun. Almost everyone wanted to believe that. A little rock (as a meteoroid) like the size believed in the video would just tumble on down once it met with the far denser air of 15K feet and below, and likely carry no remaining heat once slowed to terminal velocity due to the time of the fall (in fact the small ones can be cold when they land).

Pre-packed in a Parachute was the Occam's razor answer that took a whole lot of people chiming in to arrive at, and thankfully, they did just that. Seems very likely to be the proper conclusion. Much less fun an answer though. At least we have more than a few dozen real views of exciting meteors with cameras everywhere -- like from Chelyabinsk. Makes me want a dash cam.

 

Itsa rock. Paper relieved, scissors unavailable for comment.

 

It's a rock that can fly and it has a memory, it went to ground

 

It wasn't a rock,