[meteorite-list] meteor velocity

[Jose Campos]

Hi George,   Sorry for the delay in writting back to you. Many thanks for your interesting, prompt explanation! I am aware about the +- minimum amd maximum relative orbital speeds that meteors can attain on atmosphere entering, depending on how they encounter Earth. What surprised me was that the visually described "very fast" meteors, are of a cometary origin! Take the Leonids, for instance, (Nov 14-20), they are known to be associated to P/comet Tempel-Tuttle and they are described as "very fast"; However, the E Taurids, associated to comet P/Encke, are described as "slow" meteors (Oct 10-Dec 5), so it seems that the visual perception of a meteor's velocity is not a reliable indicator that the meteor has,or has not a cometary origin? Regards, José