Deepest ever photographed Geminid with small but not negligible terminal mass
Pavel Spurn\'y, Ji\v{r}\'i Borovi\v{c}ka

TL;DR
This paper reports the deepest atmospheric penetration of a Geminid fireball, likely resulting in meteorite landings, with detailed analysis of its unique trajectory, deceleration, and survival, challenging previous claims of similar events.
Contribution
It presents the first detailed observation of a Geminid fireball penetrating to 32.5 km, surviving to land, and provides new insights into meteoroid behavior and survivability during atmospheric entry.
Findings
Record depth of atmospheric penetration at 32.5 km.
Survivability of a small meteoroid with initial mass 0.25 kg.
Comparison showing terminal altitude remains constant for larger Geminids.
Abstract
We report an instrumental observation of the very exceptional Geminid fireball which was observed in scope of the Czech part of the European Fireball Network (EN) on 13 December 2012 at 4h12m59.4s UT. The uniqueness of this Geminid fireball consists of the record depth of its penetration in the atmosphere (to the height of 32.5 km) and in the fact that most likely a very small fraction of its initial mass survived severe deceleration in the atmosphere and landed on the ground. Such deeply penetrating Geminid with so precise and reliable data has not yet been observed. From a comparison with a large number of Geminids observed by the European Fireball Network and all brightest Geminids from the Prairie Fireball Network in USA and the Canadian MORP Network, we have shown that for Geminids with an entry mass greater than approximately 10 grams, the terminal altitude limit does not decrease…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAstro and Planetary Science · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research · Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
