earth science

Peekskill meteorite

Peekskill meteorite is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Peekskill meteorite rather than just read about it. In short: The Peekskill meteorite is the object resulting from a well-documented meteorite event that occurred in October, 1992, in Peekskill, New York, United States. Sixteen separate video recordings document the meteorite burning through the Earth's atmosphere, whereupon it struck a parked car in Peekskill.

Key takeaways

Peekskill meteorite belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Peekskill meteorite to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Peekskill meteorite from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Peekskill meteorite is the object resulting from a well-documented meteorite event that occurred in October, 1992, in Peekskill, New York, United States. Sixteen separate video recordings document the meteorite burning through the Earth's atmosphere, whereupon it struck a parked car in Peekskill. The Peekskill meteorite is an H6 monomict breccia; its filigreed texture is the result of the shocking and heating following the impact of two asteroids in outer space. The meteorite is of the stony variety, and approximately 20% of its mass is tiny flakes of nickel-iron. When it struck Earth, the meteorite weighed 12.57 kilograms (27 lb 11 oz) and measured 1 foot (30 cm) in diameter. The Peekskill meteorite is estimated to be 4.4 billion years old.

Descent The meteorite fell on October 9, 1992 – an event witnessed by thousands across the East Coast. Numerous residents of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. described the "huge greenish fireball." The meteorite broke up over Kentucky and passed over West Virginia and Pennsylvania on its north-northeast trajectory before striking a parked 1980 red Chevy Malibu at approximately 7:50 pm EDT. After traveling through space at a cosmic velocity of 14.2 km/s (31,760 mph; 51,120 km/h), the meteorite at impact had slowed to 164 mph (241 ft/s; 264 km/h; 73 m/s)

Video As the meteorite fell on a Friday evening, its descent was captured on video by many high school football fans taping local games. The descent was filmed by 16 different cameras. Only a handful of meteorite falls have been caught on film, and only the 2013 Russian meteor event was captured from more angles and localities. The multiple perspectives provided scientists with the ability to calculate the meteorite's flight path to Earth.

Impact After having been slowed by the Earth's atmosphere, the meteorite was traveling at approximately 164 miles per hour (264 km/h) at impact. The Peekskill meteorite smashed through the trunk of a red 1980 Chevrolet Malibu and narrowly missed the gas tank, finally coming to rest in an impact pit beneath the car. Seventeen-year-old Michelle Knapp, the car's owner, heard the collision from inside her home. She later described the sound as "like a three-car crash". Hurrying outside to investigate the noise, Knapp found her car smashed and the meteorite weighing 12.37 kilograms (27 lb 4.3 oz), still warm and smelling of sulfur, beneath it.

Specimens Knapp retrieved the meteorite, after which it was sold to a consortium of three dealers for $50,000. Today, small specimens of the Peekskill meteorite sell for approximately $125 per gram. Knapp had just purchased the car for $300. Immediately following the extraterrestrial impact, the vehicle was sold to Iris Lang, wife of renowned meteorite collector and dealer Al Lang, for $25,000. Since then, it has been on display in numerous museums throughout the world, including New York City's American Museum of Natural History and France's National Museum of Natural History. The car, as well as the main mass of the meteorite (which currently weighs 890 grams (1 lb 15 oz)), are now in the Macovich Collection of Meteorites. Additional specimens of the meteorite can be found in Chicago's Field Museum, the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian, and Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

See also Glossary of meteoritics Tunguska event Chelyabinsk meteor Potentially hazardous asteroid Near Earth object Impact event

References

External links Peekskill Meteorite Car Official Website More about the meteorite NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: Photo of the car and meteorite (19 November 2006) The Macovich Collection of Meteorites One of Discovery's Top 10 Meteorites All in French.

All 16 Videos of the Peekskill Meteorite's sightings Five photos of the Peekskill Meteorite's sightings Detailed Description

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peekskill meteorite

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peekskill meteorite claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Peekskill meteorite before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Peekskill meteorite ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Peekskill meteorite

In research: Peekskill meteorite appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Peekskill meteorite in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Peekskill meteorite is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1992 in New York (state), 1992 in science, Asteroidal achondrites, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peekskill meteorite outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Peekskill meteorite in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Peekskill meteorite means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Peekskill meteorite out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Peekskill meteorite in simple terms?

Why does Peekskill meteorite matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Peekskill meteorite?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Peekskill meteorite.