Hello Ron,
Yes, that's it. A distinction between the light and the object itself.
So, back to my original question. The object itself is still referred to as
a meteoroid while it is traveling in the Earth's atmosphere.
Your anecdote regarding Dr. Leonard reminded me of the Dorothy Norton
cartoon which appeared in Meteorite a while back, the one about the boy
catching the meteorite....
-Walter
----- Original Message -----
From: "R N Hartman" <rhartma...@earthlink.net>
To: "Count Deiro" <countde...@earthlink.net>; "Walter Branch"
<waltbra...@bellsouth.net>; <Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
Cc: "Meteorite1" <meteori...@earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2011 7:54 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorites 101
Meteor, meteorite, and meteoioid:
In response to the American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2005
by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company, which
is reported here to have stated that the object itself may be termed a
meteor while in flight through the atmosphere, note that dictionaries are
not the authoritative source for what an object is or is not.
Dictionaries reflect only common (popular) usage, and if it is not a
technical dictionary, more so. I remember being told as a student taking
a graduate level course in the History and Development of the English
language that dictionaries may be as much as 50 years behind the times in
reflecting current usage.
Within the informed scientific community, among those who are
meteoriticists, a meteor refers to the light phenomena of the meteoroid
while traversing through our atmosphere, and the object itself remains a
meteoroid until it strikes the Earth or whatever other astronomical body
it intercepts. Then it is referred to a meteorite. Note also the term
micro-meteorites. Sometimes these terms are used incorrectly (and
sloppily) in a popular, or non-technical sense, usually by the layman (or
the news media).
I don't think anyone has or will ever be burned at the stake for referring
to a meteoroid as a meteor, unless they are of course one of my former
students (joke)! But this is the way I have always seen these terms used
when used correctly. This is the way I learned it as a student who
received a degree in Astronomy from U.C.L.A. and who studied under one of
the world's most respected meteoriticists, Dr. Frederick C.Leonard, who by
the way was one of the founders of the Meteoritical Society. (Dr. Leonard
was the first Editor of Meteoritics: the Journal of the Meteoritical
Society. And, he was a perfectionist with the English Language.) I recall
a number of discussions in class over these definitions, such as "what
would we call it if we were carrying a basket, and the meteoroid were to
land in the basket, rather than hitting the Earth. "Dr. Leonard, would it
still be a meteoroid?" (He would respond by clearing his throat with a
faint growl, and ignore our question. But we knew he was fond of us!)
Ron Hartman
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