Norwegian Skydiver captures footage of falling meteor
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8ball
As seen on TikTok
8ball
As seen on TikTok
Might have smarted a bit, then.
9.5 out of 10 for the graph - excellent work (would have been 10 if you had included a line depicting the diameter/velocity curve for a small bust of Napoleon).
I didn't realise the meteor was estimated to be so big.
editor
hiraethified
2hats
Dust.
Something in the 'serious injury to fatal range' I would imagine. Might have made for a bit of a head scratching air accident investigation (until, or if, they could have retrieved and analysed the film).
8ball
As seen on TikTok
I would guess they would first propose something falling from an aircraft - more common than from meteor strikes (though curiously there are no confirmed deaths from frozen shit aka 'blue ice').
Lord Camomile
Yipchaa!
Spacepod. Blates.
Fez909
toilet expert
Couldn't it be traveling faster than terminal velocity?
I understood terminal velocity to mean how fast it would be falling when the air resistance got so great that a longer falling time wouldn't increase the rate of descent.
Seeing as this thing was already traveling faster than its terminal velocity, it works the other way, doesn't it? Whereby the speed is decreasing due to air resistance, but will eventually settle when the air resistance is so low that it no longer slows it down.
If all that is right, then it's possible that it was still decelerating and therefore going faster than terminal velocity.
If not, please educate me.
I understood terminal velocity to mean how fast it would be falling when the air resistance got so great that a longer falling time wouldn't increase the rate of descent.
Seeing as this thing was already traveling faster than its terminal velocity, it works the other way, doesn't it? Whereby the speed is decreasing due to air resistance, but will eventually settle when the air resistance is so low that it no longer slows it down.
If all that is right, then it's possible that it was still decelerating and therefore going faster than terminal velocity.
If not, please educate me.
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2hats
Dust.
Most meteorites (ie those that aren't several metres or more across) will reach terminal velocity quite rapidly as they plough into the thicker lower layers of the atmosphere. Typically, for meteorites of this size they will have reached terminal velocity by 5km altitude. Apparently this video was taken at around 3.7 km, so it is almost certainly at terminal velocity, or thereabouts.
e2a: subsequent information indicates the event took place at 1000 feet/300 m, so any meteorite of this size would most definitely have been at terminal velocity.
e2a: subsequent information indicates the event took place at 1000 feet/300 m, so any meteorite of this size would most definitely have been at terminal velocity.
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Lord Camomile
Yipchaa!
So because something is unlikely to have happened, it can't have happened?
2hats
Dust.
They have searched several times but turned up nothing. This is why they have made the information public after keeping it amongst a fairly small, closed circle of folks for the best part of two years - on the off chance that someone else might now find it.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
He'd be parmoed.
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
At the lowest in the estimated speed range it would be barrelling through the atmosphere at 136mph. A rock, even a small one, hitting a person would almost certainly kill. At least cause serious injury leading to uncontrolled descent leading to death on impact with the ground.
bubblesmcgrath
Well-Known Member
It's more likely a pebble. It fell out of his parachute after he opened it. Deceleration of the chute making said pebble appear to fall at high speed.
He'll be looking for a pebble then.....
Gas how people's imaginations can run riot.
He'll be looking for a pebble then.....
Gas how people's imaginations can run riot.
ffsear
Well-Known Member
So because something is unlikely to have happened, it can't have happened?
Its more likely to be fake/ setup
8ball
As seen on TikTok
Skydivers can sometimes get a little lackadaisical with the required precision when it comes to packing their chutes, but a pebble?
8ball
As seen on TikTok
Would seem so, though some of the team who confirm it (and claim to have been working on the investigation for the last two years) would be trashing their reputation if it turns out to be a fake. Every paper they produce after his would need to be pretty dull and free of exciting claims to be accepted anywhere.
If it had fallen out of his parachute it would be behind and below him. This comes from a distance far from his chute.
2hats
Dust.
Shall we apply some basic physics?
If it were a packed pebble let's first pretend it were in the pilot/drogue. Now the distance from unfurled drogue along the suspension lines to parachutist in harness is at most 15 m or so. The minimum terminal velocity for the wing suit flyer would be 40 km/h (= 11 m/s) - though it was probably more likely something in the 60-90 km/h range, but let's go with the lower figure to try and 'help' your hypothesis. The 'pebble' at drogue deploy would continue falling at the terminal velocity (and in fact accelerate, but let's ignore that for simplicity). So it would take at most 1.3 seconds from drogue deploy to pass the parachutist. If you watch the short clip carefully, time from drogue deploy till 'pebble' passing is 5.8 seconds. The main chute is open some 2.8 seconds before the 'pebble' passes by, so again doesn't suggest it came from there (likely the initial velocity of the 'pebble' in such a scenario is >=20 m/s for the reasons previously mentioned and then it begins accelerating anyway). It would take less than a second to span the distance from the canopy to the parachutist.
So in short, no, your hypothesis isn't consistent with what has been recorded. Can't really see someone else recklessly dropping it after him either (how many times would you have to try that in order to get the rock-parachutist-camera view geometry and timing right?).
bubblesmcgrath
Well-Known Member
Chute opened just before the stone appears. Hmmmn
bubblesmcgrath
Well-Known Member
Would it? Chutes tend to slow the fall rapidly in my experience.
Exactly. The parachutist is attached to the parachute and therefore slows down; your hypothetical pebble is not attached to the parachute and therefore does not slow down. Therefore the pebble would be pretty immediately be below the parachutist.
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