[meteorite-list] Vernacular of "Meteorite"

From: Dennis Cox <dragon-hunter_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 16:57:28 -0700
Message-ID: <SNT135-ds9FDF08D3FBA7A27B29E768FB80_at_phx.gbl>

Chris Peterson asked: "What would you call such a shelter?"

You would call it a bunker.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Grossman
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 9:57 AM
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Vernacular of "Meteorite"

The shield is clearly protecting against meteoroids. I don't think this
is ambiguous at all. Similarly, one might want to protect Earth from
asteroid impacts, but you would not say it needed protection from
meteorites. It isn't the leftover bits that present the hazard... it is
the incoming projectiles you have to guard against.

Jeff


On 8/20/2012 11:44 AM, Chris Peterson wrote:
> This does not make the terms well defined. It is only a proposal for a
> more complex set of definitions. And even if widely adopted, it does not
> remove the ambiguity in the case of this protective space shelter.
>
> If the shelter is struck by a meteoroid, which then vaporizes, was it a
> "meteoroid shelter" or "meteorite shelter"? If the shelter is struck by a
> meteoroid, and material survives (either on the surface, or inside), was
> it a "meteoroid shelter" or a "meteorite shelter"?
>
> Maybe it is both, or maybe neither. But I don't see any problem with the
> terms used, either in the context of current IAU definitions, colloquial
> usage, or the terms proposed by Rubin and Grossman. Clearly there is
> ambiguity here, since the shield is protective whether or not any material
> actually accretes from a collision. Most important, I think, is that the
> meaning is absolutely clear and unambiguous, which is really the ultimate
> test of usage.
>
> What would you call such a shelter?
>
> Chris
>
> *******************************
> Chris L Peterson
> Cloudbait Observatory
> http://www.cloudbait.com
>
> On 8/20/2012 9:25 AM, Randy Korotev wrote:
>> Meteorite and meteoroid are, indeed, well defined.
>>
>> http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2009.01009.x/abstract
>>
>>
>> Randy Korotev
>
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Received on Tue 21 Aug 2012 07:57:28 PM PDT