[meteorite-list] Martian and Lunar meteorites

[Jeff Kuyken]

Hi Steve,

This has been debated MANY times on the list in the past and to my knowledge 
there has never been a generally accepted term. But it's not just a future 
problem for "when we have people there". We already have approved meteorites 
that we have discovered on other planetary bodies such as Meridiani Planum 
(Mars) and Hadley Rille (Moon). I guess these are officially called 
meteorites too but you could say 'meteorite found on Mars'. It might start 
getting confusing if we find Lunars on Mars! ;-)

On 20th March this year, Jeff Grossman wrote the following:

As to the question of "is it a meteorite?", not according to the Rubin
and Grossman definition (Meteorite! 4 (3), p. 24-25, 1998):

"A meteorite is a natural solid object that was transported by natural
means from the body on which it formed to a region outside the dominant
gravitational influence of that body and was later
accreted by a natural body larger than itself."

jeff

I'm not sure if any of this really answers your question but it's definitely 
something that has been considered by many and I'm sure others will have 
their own opinions and interpretations.

Cheers,

>From the other Jeff


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Dunklee" <sdunklee72520 at yahoo.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 8:27 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Martian and Lunar meteorites


>
> I don't know if this has ever been talked about before but if you found a 
> meteorite on mars or the moon when we have people there, what are we going 
> to call them? Unless we change the definitions we can't call ones from 
> mars, martian meteorites. Any ideas people?
>
> Have a great day
>
> Steve Dunklee
>
>
>
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