SCALING ANALYSIS OF METEORITE SHOWER MASS DISTRIBUTIONS

Meteorite showers are the remains of extraterrestrial objects which ar e captivated by the gravitational field of the Earth. We have analyzed the mass distribution of fragments from 16 meteorite showers for scal ing. The distributions exhibit distinct scaling behavior over several orders of magnitude; the observed scaling exponents vary from shower t o shower. Half of the analyzed showers show a single scaling region wh ile the other half show multiple scaling regimes. Such an analysis can provide knowledge about the fragmentation process and about the origi nal meteoroid. We also suggest to compare the observed scaling exponen ts to exponents observed in laboratory experiments and discuss the pos sibility that one can derive insight into the original shapes of the m eteoroids.