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Re: When Does a Meteorite become a Meteorite?

In a message dated 99-09-10 12:43:22 EDT, you write:

michael<< 
 Geo,
    Until a solid object touches earth, that solid object is a meteoroid. A
 meteor, of course, is the light phenomenon produced by a meteoroid
 passing through earth's atmosphere at ultra high spead. When, and only
 when it hits the ground, does a meteoroid become a meteorite. (at least
 according to ALL the liturature with which I am familiar)
    Best wishes, Michael >>

This is the way I've always viewed it up until now. But after the meteoroid 
passes thru the meteor phase, the remaining falling object should look 
identical to the meteorite we will be looking at once it does actually touch 
the ground....except for a few cosmetic changes due to hitting the ground 
perhaps? Let's say that after the meteor phase, what would you call the 
remaining object if it should have collided with an airplane...a meteoroid? 
The International Meteor Organization has the definition of a "meteoroid" 
referring to it "as a natural small solid object in an independent orbit in 
the solar system. It would seem to me that any meteoroid that has passed thru 
a meteor phase has lost it's independent orbit status and is now in direct 
control of the earth's orbit? At this point, even before touching the earth's 
surface, it seems to have lost it's meteoroid definition?
geozay

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