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Name: d c whitbeck
Status: N/A
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1993 - 1999
Question:
About how fast does a meteorite travel?

Replies:
From "Introductory Astronomy and Astrophysics" by Smith and Jacobs: (note that meteorites are meteoroids that have entered the earth's atmosphere) "Solar escape speed at the Earth's orbit is 42 km/sec; meteoroids cannot move faster than this. In the early evening, meteoroids must catch the Earth, while after midnight, the Earth (30 m/sec) catches up to all but the fastest meteoroids moving along its orbit." Conversion of km/sec to MPH is left as an exercise for the reader.

Hawley


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