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Re: Bolide size versus recovered ...

In your message dated Sunday 1, March 1998 you wrote :

> bolide: a brilliant meteor, especially one which explodes; a denotating 
fireball
> 
> fireball: a bright meteor with luminosity which equals or exceeds that of the
>           brightest planets
> 
> So, a bolide is essentially an exploding fireball.  Note that with these
> definitions, a bright meteor can be both a bolide and a fireball.
> 
> Ron Baalke

I've always been in favour of the term bolide, Ron, and when I was in contact 
with Peter Millman some years ago I asked him if he knew why the Commission did 
not define the term. His reply was that a bright fireball could pass over 
hundreds of miles of the Earth before it explodes. Someone near the beginning of 
the path would therefore see it as a "fireball" but someone at the end would see 
it as  a "bolide" (meaning an exploding fireball). So was it a "fireball" or was 
it a "bolide"? - depends on where you are! Charged with having to define the 
terminology (define as in definitive - no alternatives!) they decided to stick 
with fireball. He also pointed out that some people were classing audible 
fireballs as bolides, and very bright fireballs as bolides even though they did 
not explode. The whole terminology was confused and it was hoped that defining 
the terms would solve this problem. However, even today, and even in this 
mailing group, people still use "meteor" when they mean "meteorite", and 
"meteorite" when they mean "meteoroid".

I agree that the IAU does not have the authority to delete a word from the 
English language, but you know as well as I do that nor do they have the legal 
right to define terms or name planetary features - yet they do. They operate on 
a nod and a wink from the rest of the scientific community simply because to 
have it any other way would lead to total confusion. 

At the end of the day, I feel that we should really accept the IAU's definitions 
so that we all have a clear picture in our own minds as to what is being 
discussed. However, as we are mainly concerned with meteorites I will draw a 
parallel: can you imagine the chaos if we did not accept the Meteoritical 
Society's names for meteorites? We'd all be calling them by different names!

I know fine well that some people working at NASA, and others, have used the 
word bolide but that still doesn't give the term the same degree of authority as 
an IAU Commission.

Perhaps we should all gang up on the IAU and demand that they give us back our 
bolides!

Albest,

-- 
Phil Bagnall
http://www.ticetboo.demon.co.uk/