"A meteorite is a natural solid object that was transported by natural means from the body on which it formed to a region outside the dominant gravitational influence of that body and was later accreted by a natural body larger than itself."
Our exception to this rule is: "Meteorites accreting to a body lose their status as individual meteorites if the rocks into which they are incorporated subsequently become meteorites themselves."
This means that a CM clast in an H chondrite that fell in Africa is not itself a meteorite... only the H chondrite is. Hadley Rille and Bench Crater ARE meteorites; however, had they been found as clasts in lunar meteorites, they would not be meteorites, and would not be given their own names by the nomenclature committee. Everybody follow this? I thought not.
All of these statements are the opinion of just Alan and myself. There are no widely accepted definitions of "meteorite." But since nobody else has ever tried to define the word like we did, I guess we get the last word for now.
-jeff
At 02:05 PM 1/15/2003, you wrote:
Hi Tracy, > What would be the correct thing to call an impactor like Hadley Rille or > Bench Crater? I gather that 'meteorite' refers only to things that impact > Earth; how about things that hit other planets?On this list I've seen the words "lunaite" and "lunarite". I've always assumed the former refers to a piece of the Moon found on earth (lunar meteorite), and the latter refers to a piece of an asteroid found on the Moon (e.g. Hadley Rille). I guess it's a little confusing given that the two words only differ by one letter. --Rob ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Dr. Jeffrey N. Grossman Chair, Meteorite Nomenclature Committee (Meteoritical Society) US Geological Survey 954 National Center Reston, VA 20192, USA Phone: (703) 648-6184 fax: (703) 648-6383 ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
