Mystery AtlasEarth-Grazing Meteoroid Breakup Theory
The theory, originating with Clarence Chant's 1913 conclusion that the procession's bodies had briefly formed a temporary satellite of Earth, and refined by later astronomers using the physics of Earth-grazing fireballs: a single large meteoroid skimmed the atmosphere at a shallow angle, lost mass and speed, fragmented, and the pieces re-entered together minutes apart on nearly the same path. The parent body's size, composition, and origin were never determined, and no fragments were ever recovered.
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Theories & Explanations
Earth-Grazing Meteoroid Breakup Theory contradicts Meteor Shower Radiant Explanation — The two accounts make mutually exclusive claims about whether the fireballs shared a common radiant point.
Earth-Grazing Meteoroid Breakup Theory is frequently compared to Tunguska Cosmic Airburst Explanation — Both are natural near-Earth-object explanations for early-20th-century unexplained aerial phenomena, but one is a shallow atmospheric graze that fragmented harmlessly while the other is a direct, destructive airburst impactor.
Events
- 1913 Great Meteor Procession9 February 1913
Earth-Grazing Meteoroid Breakup Theory attempts to explain 1913 Great Meteor Procession — The leading modern explanation for the mechanism, but the parent body's size, composition, and cosmic origin were never confirmed.