English

New Constraints on the Composition and Initial Speed of CNEOS 2014-01-08

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2022-04-21 v2

Abstract

We study the newly released light curve from the fireball of the first interstellar meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08. The measured velocity and three observed flares down to an altitude of 18.7  km18.7 \mathrm{\; km} imply ambient ram pressure in the range of 113194113-194 MPa when the meteor disintegrated. The required yield strength is 20\gtrsim 20 times higher than stony meteorites and 2\gtrsim 2 times larger than iron meteorites. The implied slowdown in the atmosphere suggests an initial speed of about 66.5  km s166.5 \; {\rm km~s^{-1}}, strengthening the case for an interstellar origin of this meteor and making it an outlier relative to the velocity dispersion of local stars.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2204.08482,
  title  = {New Constraints on the Composition and Initial Speed of CNEOS 2014-01-08},
  author = {Amir Siraj and Abraham Loeb},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.08482},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

5 pages, 1 figure; accepted for publication in RNAAS