[meteorite-list] Bolide

[Chris Peterson]

That Wikipedia article definitely needs repair. The author has 
completely misread the report on hazardous objects. It isn't true that 
objects need to be 50 m in diameter in order to produce meteorites (and 
the report doesn't say this). Meteoroids smaller than 1 m can produce 
meteorites, and objects larger than about 10 m can reach the ground with 
some cosmic velocity intact.

This reminds me of the whole IAU planet mess. I really think it's stupid 
to try and make these arbitrary size classifications. Something much 
simpler would do. For instance, "asteroid" is any non-icy body smaller 
than a planet, meaning anything too small to become spherical by self 
gravity. A "meteoroid" is any body that creates a meteor- from a grain 
of dust to a 10 km comet. An "impactor" is a meteoroid that hits the 
ground. A "bolide" is a category of meteor (not meteoroid) that exhibits 
fragmentation (and most definitely not an impactor). A "fireball" is 
also a category of meteor. It would be nice if the definition for that 
was based on absolute magnitude and not apparent, however.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Verish" <bolidechaser at yahoo.com>
To: "Meteoritecentral List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 3:14 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Bolide


> To all of those with ANOTHER QUESTION about Bolides:
>
> What lies at the root of this long-standing debate is
> the fact that the problem rests with the IAU never
> having approved a name for the physical object that
> produces the light phenomenon that they have termed as
> a meteor or fireball.  Until they do, editors of
> geological and meteoritical journals will be
> increasingly approving the use of the term "bolide" in
> the papers they publish.
>
> Please re-read Larry Lebofsky's post (below) and then
> read the Wikipedia definition for "meteoroid":
>
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid>
>
> Instead of us trying to discourage the use of the word
> "bolide", we should be encouraging the use of this
> word in order to fill the void left by this undefined
> object.
>
> Until they approve a term for that object which makes
> all of those craters and meteorites that we all have
> come to love and enjoy...  I remain,
> Yours Truly,
> Bolide*Chaser
> <http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/undefind.jpg>