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Re: Monahans

At 09:42 PM 4/1/98 EST, you wrote:
>Hey Jeff and List,
>
>What actually has to happen before a meteorite is given an "official synonym
>name?" Obviously it takes more than mentioning it on this list!  :-)    
>
>
>jgrossman@usgs.gov writes:
>
><< Listoids-
> 
> For all who might care, the recent Texas meteorite fall
> has been officially named.  It is "Monahans (1998)".  The old
> Monahans iron will now go by "Monahans (1938)".  This
> meteorite has not yet been classified, but JSC is working
> on it as we speak.  Although some of you made a valiant
> effort, no synonyms will be listed in the Meteoritical
> Bulletin.
> 
> Jeff
>  >>
>
>

Basically, the Nomenclature Committee has to judge that an
unofficial name is in sufficiently widespread use that it could
cause confusion.  One reason could be that a name appears in the
scientific literature before an official name is given, either 
because somebody did not follow the Meteoritical Society's rules
(e.g., "Australia I", which is now named Hughes 026), or the 
name was published in an obscure journal by parties with no way of 
knowing these rules.  A second reason would be that a meteorite 
was widely distributed among collectors under some name prior to 
its initial scientific description (Juancheng, a.k.a. "Heze" is an
example).  A third reason would be that two meteorites with
different names turn out to be the same meteorite (often due
to a long history of different names being used in different places). 
Sometimes its a judgement call as to whether a name is widely enough
used to cause confusion.

The NomCom's main goals are to provide each meteorite with a UNIQUE
label conforming to rules it has adopted over time on behalf of
the Meteoritical Society, and to disseminate this information via
the Meteoritical Bulletin.

jeff