[meteorite-list] Meteorites 101

From: R. Chastain <suenrod_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 16:12:47 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <538426.91178.qm_at_web45106.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>

Thanks for the definition.
Let's see if I have this straight....

Meteoroid = in space

Meteor = The act of the previous meteoroid entering the atmosphere and producing light.

Meteorite = Meteoroid, now meteor, that landed and becomes a meteorite.

Let me muddy the waters a bit more:-)
Where does the term Bolide figure in as compared to a fireball?
I haven't found a good description of the difference.

Rod

--- On Sat, 1/15/11, Count Deiro <countdeiro at earthlink.net> wrote:

> From: Count Deiro <countdeiro at earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorites 101
> To: "Walter Branch" <waltbranch at bellsouth.net>, Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Saturday, January 15, 2011, 6:30 PM
> Hi Walter and all,
>
> This may be the acceptable nomenclature....
>
> METEOR (mt-r)
> 1. A bright trail or streak of light that appears in the
> night sky when a meteoroid enters the Earth's atmosphere.
> The friction with the air causes the rock to glow with heat.
> Also called shooting star.
> 2. A rocky body that produces such light. Most meteors burn
> up before reaching the Earth's surface. See Note at solar
> system.
> Usage The streaks of light we sometimes see in the night
> sky and call meteors were not identified as interplanetary
> rocks until the 19th century. Before then, the streaks of
> light were considered only one of a variety of atmospheric
> phenomena, all of which bore the name meteor. Rain was an
> aqueous meteor, winds and storms were airy meteors, and
> streaks of light in the sky were fiery meteors. This general
> use of meteor survives in our word meteorology, the study of
> the weather and atmospheric phenomena. Nowadays, astronomers
> use any of three words for rocks from interplanetary space,
> depending on their stage of descent to the Earth. A
> meteoroid is a rock in space that has the potential to
> collide with the Earth's atmosphere. Meteoroids range in
> size from a speck of dust to a chunk about 100 meters in
> diameter, though most are smaller than a pebble. When a
> meteoroid enters the atmosphere, it becomes a meteor. The
> light that it gives off when heated by friction with the
> atmosphere is also called a meteor. If the rock is not
> obliterated by the friction and lands on the ground, it is
> called a meteorite. For this term, scientists borrowed the
> -ite suffix used in the names of minerals like malachite and
> pyrite.
>
> The American Heritage? Science Dictionary Copyright ?
> 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton
> Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
>
> Best to all,
>
> Count Deiro
> IMCA 3536 MetSoc
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Walter Branch <waltbranch at bellsouth.net>
> >Sent: Jan 15, 2011 3:13 PM
> >To: Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> >Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorites 101
> >
> >Hello Everyone,
> >
> >The term "meteor" refers to the light phenomenon as an
> object from space
> >enters the Earth's atmosphere.? What is the proper
> term for the object
> >itself?
> >
> >A? meteoroid is an object in space.? Is it
> still called a meteoroid when it
> >enters the Earth's atmosphere?
> >
> >-Walter
> >
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Received on Sat 15 Jan 2011 07:12:47 PM PST