[meteorite-list] Meteorites 101-Bolide

[Martin Altmann]

Hi,

I understood bolide sofar & always simply as a bright meteor up to a
fireball.
And can't remember, whether I read it ever in a different use than that
(despite racing cars).

Meanwhile I was reading Pliny (AD 23-79), and Pliny says he has the term
"bolide" from Hipparchus (190-120 BC).

For looking up Aristotle (384-322 BC) I was too lazy, couldn't find a latin
translation on web and Greek I can't.  Should be some terms in the 1st book
of his meteora or meteorologica, where he writes about meteors&thunderbolts.

Best!
Martin


Pliny, Natural History 2.25 (Bostock  translation)

CHAP. 25.—EXAMPLES FROM HISTORY OF CELESTIAL PRODIGIES; FACES, LAMPADES, AND
BOLIDES.
The faces shine brilliantly, but they are never seen excepting when they are
falling one of these darted across the heavens, in the sight of all the
people, at noon-day, when Germanicus Cæsar was exhibiting a show of
gladiators. There are two kinds of them; those which are called lampades and
those which are called BOLIDES, one of which latter was seen during the
troubles at Mutina. They differ from each other in this respect, that the
faces produce a long train of light, the fore-part only being on fire; while
the bolides, being entirely in a state of combustion, leave a still longer
track behind them.
 

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von Mark
Bowling
Gesendet: Sonntag, 16. Januar 2011 18:11
An: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorites 101-Bolide

Hi all,
I have understood from my study that a bolide refers to a meteor that breaks
up 
- not requiring the detection of an audible report because, if observed from
a 
distance, the sound may not be heard.  It is not a bright meteor or fireball
or 
large impactor, but simply a meteor that breaks up.  Right or wrong, that's
the 
way I've been using the term when I report seeing one on the list.  Has
anybody 
else been using it that way?  I've been lucky to have seen several dozen
over 
the years (often colorful), but none up close like Elton (yet!).

I would agree that the IAU should come up with a definition because the
term has 
come to mean too many things and its use is not going to go away any time
soon.  
In fact with the current explosion of public interest (no pun intended),
more 
people are going to find the term and grab onto it.

See you all soon!
Mark B.
Vail, AZ