http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== Trajectory and orbit of the Tunguska meteorite revisited V. a. Bronshten^1, ?, <#c1>^2 <#c2> ^1 Committee for Meteorites, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Correspondence to ?Varshavskoye road 16?130, Moscow 113105, Russia Correspondence to ^2 nchugai@inasan.rssi.edu Copyright 1999 The Meteoritical Society ABSTRACT Abstract?A critical survey is presented of all determinations of the azimuth and inclination of the Tunguska meteorite's trajectory based either on eyewitness testimonies or on the mathematical treatment of the forest-leveling field in the area of the catastrophe. The eyewitness testimonies collected in the neighborhood of the Nizhnyaya Tunguska River indicate the most probable azimuth of the trajectory projection to be 104° from the north to the east, which is close to the most recent azimuth estimate from the forest-leveling field, 99°. For the most part of the trajectory, its inclination could not exceed 15°. However, it is seen from aerodynamic calculations that the combined action of the gravity field and a nonzero aerodynamic lift could increase the inclination to 40° as the end of the trajectory was approached. Meteoroid orbits are calculated for a broad family of trajectories with azimuths ranging from 99° (Fast et al, 1976) to 137° (Krinov, 1949) and geocentric velocities ranging from 25 to 40 km/s. Orbits with large azimuth values (120° and larger) are shown to belong to the asteroidal type. They are succeeded by the orbits of short-period and long-period comets, whereas very small azimuth values and large geocentric velocities correspond to the region of hyperbolic orbits. Certain restrictions on the possible trajectory azimuths and geocentric velocities of the Tunguska body are imposed by this study. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Received 1997 July 21, accepted in revised form 1998 December 8 DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI) 10.1111/j.1945-5100.1999.tb01759.x About DOI