Roberto Gorelli points our attention at a recently published meteor related paper:

On the Proposed Interstellar Origin of the USG 20140108 Fireball

This article has been submitted for publication by Peter G. Brown and Jiří Borovička.

Abstract: A critical review of the evidence for the interstellar origin for the USG 20140108 fireball is presented. Examining USG fireball velocities where independent data are available shows the former to have significant (10-15 km/s) uncertainties at large speeds and highly variable radiant accuracy, with average errors in excess of ten degrees. Ablation model fits to the observed lightcurve are possible for normal chondritic impactors only assuming low speeds. To match the high speed and low fragmentation height of the USG 20140108 fireball would require a high density/strength object with low drag and highly aerodynamic shape not made of iron. We suggest the simpliest explanation for the unusual characteristics of USG 20140108 is that the speed, in particular, is substantially overestimated.

You can download this paper for free: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.14267.pdf (24 pages).

 

Older meteor library news:

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017