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When it's a rock! (was, "RE: When Does a Meteorite become a Meteorite?")

George, Richard, Michael and all,

I've been studying this issue for some time now, and it's become clear to me
that, as George has observed, there is NO COMMONLY AGREED UPON TERM for that
"object" or "thing" that flies through the atmosphere after a "light
phenomenon" ceases and before it hits the ground.  Even worse, I've noticed
that, with no clearly right or wrong terminology, every discussion on this
issue has spiraled into NON-RESOLUTION.

What has to be understood, before getting involved into this debate, is that
there appears to be two viewpoints.  Two points of view, I've observed, that
can be grouped into two (very general) camps; the astronomer/meteor-observer
camp and the geologist/planetologist camp.  It appears that viewpoints are
developed depending upon how, or in what direction, a persons interest in
meteorites was approached.  For the astronomer (A) camp, focus appears to be
centered on the "light phenomenon" portion of the meteoroid-meteor-meteorite
series, whereas for the geologist (G) camp, "the rock is the thing", whether
it be meteorite or asteroid fragment.  Oh yeah, the "light phenomenon" is
handy to the "G"-camp because it gets the astronomers involved in helping
the geologists to find the meteorites and figuring out which asteroid it
came from.

You can tell which camp a person is coming from.  If they're comfortable
with calling the falling object a "meteorite" then their area of interest is
with the "transient light phenomenon" (A-camp).  If they're more comfortable
in calling it a "meteoroid", then they're more interested in which asteroid
it came from (G-camp).  When a person makes a post on the MeteorObs-list
suggesting that, when interviewed by the media about meteor showers,
astronomers should stop misinforming the general public by refraining to
suggest that there is a connection between meteorites and comets, then that
person is a G-camper with an AGENDA.  When a person makes a post on the
Meteoritecentral-list and is comfortable with asking the seemingly benign
question, "When Does a Meteorite become a Meteorite?", then that person is
an A-camper with an agenda.  

It has been suggested to call the "dark-flight object" a meteorite.  It has
been counter-suggested to ignore the "transient light phenomenon" and call
the moving, physical object a "meteoroid" until it stops moving or hits the
ground.  Will the next suggestion demand the removal of the superfluous term
"meteoroid" and to start calling EVERY rock fragment from an asteroid a
"meteorite"?? (When we bring back retrieved samples from asteroids and
comets next century, what will we call THOSE rocks??)  Until a NEW term is
agreed upon, this will remain unresolved.

I'll finish by saying, I realize that by making some tongue-in-cheek
statements above, that I may have bit my tongue in the process.  Yes, I am
aware that nearly all the early great meteoriticists were astronomers, but
if you have read some of the early Volumes of the journal Meteoritics you
would see papers debating "the proper use of the term meteorite".  Nearly
fifty years ago they had the opportunity to resolve these issues, or just
simply introduce a new term, but they didn't.  Before the century ends, will
we?

Bob V.

-----Original Message-----
From: GeoZay@aol.com [mailto:GeoZay@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, September 10, 1999 10:54 AM
To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
Subject: 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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