The First Instrumentally Documented Fall of an Iron Meteorite: Orbit and Possible Origin

Abstract

A bright fireball observed on 2020 November 7, over Scandinavia, produced the first iron meteorite with a well-determined pre-atmospheric trajectory. We calculated the orbit of this meteoroid and found that it demonstrates no close affinity with the orbit of any known asteroid. We found that the meteoroid (or its parent body) most probably entered the near-Earth orbit from the main asteroid belt via either ν _6 secular resonance with Saturn (89%) or 3:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter (11%). The long YORP timescale of the meteoroid suggests that it could have been produced in the main asteroid belt and survived the journey to the near-Earth orbit.

Keywords

• Iron meteorites
• Meteorites
• Meteoroids
• Meteors
• Fireballs
• Asteroids