An explosion of a comet nucleus fragment in the Earth's atmosphere

Kruchynenko, VG, 1Churyumov, KI, Churyumova, TK
1Astronomical Observatory of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
Kinemat. fiz. nebesnyh tel (Online) 2011, 27(3):3-16
Start Page: Dynamics and Physics of Solar System Bodies
Language: Russian
Abstract: 

We analysed some data on thermal explosions of large meteoroids in the Earth's atmosphere. The cumulative function of influx of space bodies is corrected with taking into account an explosion height. According to our conception, the explosion height is determined by maximal braking. As the result of this, the in tegral func tion of influx from the paper of Brown P. et al. [Brown P., Spalding R. E., ReVelle D. O., et al. Theflux of small near-Earth objects colliding with the Earth // Nature.—2002.— 420.—P. 314—316] and one derived by the authors earlier are in good agreement. It is found that at least one phenomenon from the paper is a result of an explosion of a comet nucleus fragment. It is shown that the Tungusska phenomenon can not be explained within the framework of a monolithic body model.

Keywords: comet nucleus, meteoroid