Steven D. Miller^a,*, William C. Straka III^b, A. Scott Bachmeier^b, Timothy J. Schmit^c, Philip T. Partain^a and Yoo-Jeong Noh^a

^aCooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523;
^bCooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53706; and
^cAdvanced Satellite Products Branch, Center for Satellite Applications and Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Madison, WI 53715

Large meteors (or superbolides [Ceplecha Z, et al. (1999) Meteoroids 1998:37–54]), although rare in recorded history, give sobering testimony to civilization’s inherent vulnerability. A not-so-subtle reminder came on the morning of February 15, 2013, when a large meteoroid hurtled into the Earth’s atmosphere, forming a superbolide near the city of Chelyabinsnk, Russia, ~1,500 km east of Moscow, Russia [Ivanova MA, et al. (2013) Abstracts of the 76th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society, 5366]. The object exploded in the stratosphere, and the ensuing shock wave blasted the city of Chelyabinsk, damaging structures and injuring hundreds. Details of trajectory are important for determining its specific source, the likelihood of future events, and potential mitigation measures. Earth-viewing environmental satellites can assist in these assessments. Here we examine satellite observations of the Chelyabinsk superbolide debris trail, collected within minutes of its entry. Estimates of trajectory are derived from differential views of the significantly parallax-displaced [e.g., Hasler AF (1981) Bull Am Meteor Soc 52:194–212] debris trail. The 282.7 ± 2.3° azimuth of trajectory, 18.5 ± 3.8° slope to the horizontal, and 17.7 ± 0.5 km/s velocity derived from these satellites agree well with parameters inferred from the wealth of surface-based photographs and amateur videos. More importantly, the results demonstrate the general ability of Earth-viewing satellites to provide valuable insight on trajectory reconstruction in the more likely scenario of sparse or nonexistent surface observations.

Reference
Miller SD, Straka III WC, Bachmeier AS, Schmit TJ, Partain PT and Noh Y-J (2013) Earth-viewing satellite perspectives on the Chelyabinsk meteor event. PNAS 110:18092-18097.
[doi:10.1073/pnas.1307965110]

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