# Meteorite whizzes by skydiver **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345 "2014-04-04T15:13:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/1 "2014-04-04T15:13:57Z")
[Link](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/watch-meteorite-narrowly-misses-norwegian-skydiver-article-1.1745184) > [@](#): > > A Norwegian skydiver cheated death when a chunk of meteorite went whistling by him in mid-air while he plummeted to earth — and it was all caught on video in what geologists called a world-first occurrence. The skydiver was skeptical that the rock was a meteorite, but he took his video to the Natural History Museum in Oslo. > [@](#): > > The scientists were shocked. Not only was the shape certainly a meteorite, but it was in “dark flight," which is when the meteorite no longer has a sparkling trail and instead, travels straight down. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/2 "2014-04-04T15:18:19Z")
Cool. Too bad he didn’t find it. And wasn’t it still a meteor until it hit the ground? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/3 "2014-04-04T15:22:34Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And wasn’t it still a meteor until it hit the ground? Technically, I think yes. But since it had cooled, I think it’s safe to assume that it did hit the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/4 "2014-04-04T15:29:04Z")
Hmm. I’m not sure I’m 100% convinced. Seems a bit of a coincidence that it appeared just as he pulled the cord. Could it have been a smallish stone wrapped up in the chute? It does seem to be travelling rather fast - you’d expect it to be travelling at the same speed as he was falling, at least at first - but it’s hard to say how much he slowed down thus creating the relative motion. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/5 "2014-04-04T15:38:24Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Hmm. I’m not sure I’m 100% convinced. Seems a bit of a coincidence that it appeared just as he pulled the cord. Could it have been a smallish stone wrapped up in the chute? It does seem to be travelling rather fast - you’d expect it to be travelling at the same speed as he was falling, at least at first - but it’s hard to say how much he slowed down thus creating the relative motion. According to the linked article: > [@](#): > > At first it crossed my mind that it had been packed into a parachute, but it’s simply too big for that. It also says that he had just pulled his 'chute, and that he was wearing a wing suit; so he would have been falling more slowly than the rock. What I wonder, is why is this just coming out after more than a year and a half? I’d expect something like that to be posted immediately. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/6 "2014-04-04T15:45:15Z")
“Around the sun, through the asteroid belt, into the atmosphere of planet #3, off that guy’s head…nothing but net.” ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/7 "2014-04-04T15:47:09Z")
Would a meteorite have slowed to around 100 mph near the ground? It seems so unlikely given orbital and re-entry speeds. Certainly not every bit of space trash slams into the ground with a bang, but something the size of a golfball/baseball dropping to thrown speed? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/8 "2014-04-04T15:52:08Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > According to the linked article: > > > [@](#): > > > > At first it crossed my mind that it had been packed into a parachute, but it’s simply too big for that. I’m not quite sure how you can determine the distance/size of that rock from the few frames it is visible as it whizzes past. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/9 "2014-04-04T15:52:35Z")
In the video, he appears to indicate it was about the size of a football. How big must it have been when it entered the atmosphere, if it it was still that size after burning up during re-entry? Wouldn’t that create a bolide visible in daylight? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/10 "2014-04-04T15:58:49Z")
I haven’t watched the video in the link; only what’s on TV. It shows an overhead view of a guy in a wing suit. I wonder if someone above him was playing a prank, and threw a rock at him from above and out of frame? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/11 "2014-04-04T16:59:09Z")
Calling bullshit. The odds against that thing being a meteor are…astronomical. Seeing as how there are multiple skydivers in the air, it seems far more likely that it (whatever it is) came from one of them. ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/12 "2014-04-04T17:13:15Z")
It looks very clearly to me to be small stone, golf ball size or smaller, falling from the parachute. A pebble that size could easily have been scooped up from the ground by the parachute the last time it was used. If the object is that small, then based on the distance travelled in each frame, it is travelling at about the speed you would expect it to be if it fell from the parachute. Nowhere near 300 mph. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/13 "2014-04-04T17:30:13Z")
> [@RedSwinglineOne](#): > > Nowhere near 300 mph. Not sure where you got that figure - was it in the video somewhere? - but to put it in context, 300 mph is 440 feet per second - meaning a 30fps camera would have been lucky to catch it in more than one frame. It would be moving 15 feet between frames. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/14 "2014-04-04T17:32:50Z")
‘Helstrup’s rock was traveling some 186 mph as he flew by him, the geologists concluded.’ ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/15 "2014-04-04T18:09:34Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Not sure where you got that figure - was it in the video somewhere? . The first link I saw had the headline **Watch the moment a 300mph meteor narrowly misses a skydiver**. It looks like that may have been a mistake as 300 kph is about 186 mph, the other figure going around. Either way, if the rock is as small as it appears to me, it is only moving a foot or two per frame, which is very slow. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/16 "2014-04-04T18:31:07Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Not sure where you got that figure - was it in the video somewhere? - but to put it in context, 300 mph is 440 feet per second - meaning a 30fps camera would have been lucky to catch it in more than one frame. It would be moving 15 feet between frames. How fast was the skydiver (and therefore the camera) falling though? If you were falling at 299mph - not that I’m suggesting he was - then you could film a 300mph rock for quite a while… ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/17 "2014-04-04T18:41:35Z")
I think **Machine Elf** went through and made an Excel sheet to calculate terminal velocity as a function of altitude, in the thread where we were discussing Baumgardner’s parachute jump. W/o benefit of that… Wiki lists [the equation for terminal velocity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity) (neglecting buoyancy—which I think is o.k. for this meteor) as: Vt = ((2mg)/(rho_A_Cd))^-2, where: m= mass g= acceleration due to gravity rho = density of air A = projected area of the object Cd = drag coefficient I used a 16 lb. shot put as a very rough stand-in for the meteor, since I had [figures for that](https://arago.elte.hu/sites/default/files/ShotPutHammerThrow_JBM.pdf). m = 7.26 kg; g = 9.8 m/s^2; rho = 1.23 kg/m^3; A = 0.0095 m^2; Cd = 0.47 Plug that in and we get: ~161 m/s, or about 360 MPH. That meteor didn’t look like it was going 360 MPH, but I don’t have any real frame of reference for what 360 MPH would look like on that video. I guess the meteor can be less dense than a shot put, or have a higher Cd, which could account for the slower velocity. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/18 "2014-04-04T18:48:49Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > How fast was the skydiver (and therefore the camera) falling though? If you were falling at 299mph - not that I’m suggesting he was - then you could film a 300mph rock for quite a while… His chute had just opened, so probably not more than 50 feet per second - 30 to 50 mph. What’s impact speed with modern sport chutes, about 25 mph? And in any case, wouldn’t terminal velocity at lower altitudes like this be 150-175 mph max? ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/19 "2014-04-04T18:52:30Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > That meteor didn’t look like it was going 360 MPH, but I don’t have any real frame of reference for what 360 MPH would look like on that video. . Well that is the issue. The camera provides a time reference. To get a speed we need a distance and we can only guess at that. The object could be very big and far away, moving fast. Or it could be very small and close, moving slowly. My vote is that it is just a pebble, near the camera, moving very slowly. Likely dropped from the canopy when it opened. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345/20 "2014-04-04T22:29:30Z")
I’m pretty skeptical- I mean, which seems more likely: that it was a real meteor or that it was packed in the container with his canopy? Or it could have been dropped by another skydiver (but probably not the guy visible in the video- the angle is wrong). I think it came out when his parachute came out. I’ve been reading about it on a skydiving forum and the consensus (among jumpers with far more knowledge and experience than me) seems to be: fake. Oh, and to answer Amateur Barbarian’s question, a typical descent rate under a ram-air canopy is 10-12 mph. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-whizzes-by-skydiver/685345.md?page=2)