[meteorite-list] Meteorites 101

[Walter Branch]

Hello Ron,

Yes, that's it.  A distinction between the light and the object itself.

So, back to my original question.  The object itself is still referred to as 
a meteoroid while it is traveling in the Earth's atmosphere.

Your anecdote regarding Dr. Leonard reminded me of the Dorothy Norton 
cartoon which appeared in Meteorite a while back, the one about the boy 
catching the meteorite....

-Walter


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "R N Hartman" <rhartman04 at earthlink.net>
To: "Count Deiro" <countdeiro at earthlink.net>; "Walter Branch" 
<waltbranch at bellsouth.net>; <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Cc: "Meteorite1" <meteorite1 at earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2011 7:54 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorites 101


> Meteor, meteorite, and meteoioid:
>
> In response to  the American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2005 
> by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company, which 
> is reported here to have stated  that the object itself may be termed a 
> meteor while in flight through the atmosphere, note that dictionaries are 
> not the authoritative source for what an object is or is not. 
> Dictionaries reflect only common (popular) usage, and if it is not a 
> technical dictionary, more so.  I remember being told as a student taking 
> a graduate level course in the History and Development of the English 
> language that dictionaries may be as much as 50 years behind the times in 
> reflecting current usage.
>
> Within the informed scientific community, among those who are 
> meteoriticists, a meteor refers to the light phenomena of the meteoroid 
> while traversing through our atmosphere, and the object itself remains a 
> meteoroid until it strikes the Earth or whatever other astronomical body 
> it intercepts.  Then it is referred to a meteorite.  Note also the term 
> micro-meteorites.  Sometimes these terms are used incorrectly (and 
> sloppily) in a popular, or non-technical sense, usually by the layman (or 
> the news media).
>
> I don't think anyone has or will ever be burned at the stake for referring 
> to a meteoroid as a meteor, unless they are of course one of my former 
> students (joke)!  But this is the way I have always seen these terms used 
> when used correctly.  This is the way I learned it as a student who 
> received a degree in Astronomy from U.C.L.A. and who studied under one of 
> the world's most respected meteoriticists, Dr. Frederick C.Leonard, who by 
> the way was one of the founders of the Meteoritical Society. (Dr. Leonard 
> was the first Editor of Meteoritics: the Journal of the Meteoritical 
> Society.  And, he was a perfectionist with the English Language.) I recall 
> a number of discussions in class over these definitions, such as "what 
> would we call it if we were carrying a basket, and the meteoroid were to 
> land in the basket, rather than hitting the Earth. "Dr. Leonard, would it 
> still be a meteoroid?"  (He would respond by clearing his throat with a 
> faint growl, and ignore our question. But we knew he was fond of us!)
>
> Ron Hartman
>
>>