Has Landed
How hot is a meteorite after it has landed on the ground?
My ancestors (native Alaskan, Russian) passed on stories of these meteorites. They said that if you pick one up with your bare hands after it has landed and hold it until it cools off, you’ll become a great hunter. They used to hold it with one hand and then with the other back and forth. Yeah, they were superstitious lol. People would do that today if they had the chance, even my dad. I think I would just leave it and not contaminate it lol.
So, how hot would it be?
Actually it turns out that after a meteorite lands you could pick it up with no problem. If you think of an object that is uniform in temperature the outer layers will heat up and peel away. In fact it’s this heating up and peeling away that causes the light you see as it streaks across the sky. But the layers under that is still fairly cool. So the Hollywood representation of a steaming piece of rock after it lands is just that..Hollywood.
Apollo 11:”The Eagle has landed.”