Constraining the pre-atmospheric parameters of large meteoroids: Košice, a case study

Abstract

Out of a total around 50,000 meteorites currently known to science, the atmospheric passage was recorded instrumentally in only 25 cases with the potential to derive their atmospheric trajectories and pre-impact heliocentric orbits. Similarly, while observations of meteors generate thousands of new entries per month to existing databases, it is extremely rare they lead to meteorite recovery (http:// www.meteoriteorbits.info/). These 25 exceptional cases thus deserve a thorough reexamination by different techniques—not only to ensure that we are able to match the model with the observations, but also to enable the best possible interpretation scenario and facilitate the robust extraction of key characteristics of a meteoroid based on the available data. In this study, we evaluate the dynamic mass of the Košice meteoroid using analysis of drag and mass-loss rate available from the observations. We estimate the dynamic pre-atmospheric meteoroid mass at 1850 kg. The pre-fragmentation size proportions of the Košice meteoroid are estimated based on the statistical distribution of the recovered meteorite fragments. The heliocentric orbit of the Košice meteoroid, derived using numerical integration of the equations of motion, is found to be in close agreement to earlier published results.