Eric and List,
"My" definition of "meteoroid" is just the standard
textbook definition. Before it hits the Earth, it's
a "meteoroid." While in fiery flight through the
atmosphere, it's a "meteor." If a piece lands on the
Earth (and somebody finds it), it's a "meteorite."
First of all, all that stuff you named is not "floating
around." It's in orbit around something. A perfectly
unremarkable "asteroid" orbiting around a planet
is a "moon," like Phobos and Deimos.
Funny thought: if the Earth's Moon did form by
hitting (grazing) the Earth, breaking up, contributing
its core to the Earth, and its mantle went back into
orbit around the Earth, isn't it a "meteoroid"? And
the material it left behind "meteorites"?
So, yes, a body too small to be round AND orbiting
the Sun is an asteroid. (If it's big enough to be round,
it's a dwarf planet, so they tell me.) Or are they "Minor
Planets"? Let me get out my IAU Nomenclature Handbook.
Hmmm... There are no "Minor Planets." (No one is
unimportant, I guess.) They are SSSB's.
There are no asteroids in the book. That term was
replaced by "Minor Planet," which has since been
replaced officially by SSSB (Small Solar System
Body). I'm still waiting for somebody to say, "Look!
It's an EssEssEssBee!"
even down to the minuscule particle?
No. Dust is called... Lemme look it up. Dust is called
"dust." There's Interplanetary Dust, Interstellar Dust,
Zodiacal Dust, Cometary Dust, and so on.
Sterling K. Webb
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Meteorites USA" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 9:48 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 Will Fly Past
TheEarth
So given your explaination of what a "meteoroid" is. Which I have to
admit makes since to me because the the word "meteor" implies fiery
ball of flame which could not exist in space (aside from the sun). ;)
Aside from comets, planetoids and planetesimals, and planets, of
course, would that mean "all" small bits of material floating around
in space are asteroids, even down to the minuscule particle?
Regards,
Eric Wichman
Meteorites USA
On 1/12/2010 7:36 PM, Sterling K. Webb wrote:
Hi, Melanie and List,
What defines a "meteoroid" is that some portion of
it survives entry into the Earth's atmosphere and
ends up on the surface of the Earth as a "meteorite."
So, we don't know it's a "meteoroid" until after the
whole adventure is over and done with. We can't say
a rock is a "meteoroid" while it's still in space because
we don't know the outcome yet.
On the other hand, any rock that could intersect the
Earth (or be deflected to do so) is a potential "meteoroid."
Size is not the criteria. A small asteroid (like the iron
that made Meteor Crater) is a "meteoroid" because of
all those Canyon Diablos. Whatever hit Tunguska is
NOT a "meteoroid" because nobody ever found a piece
of it.
2010 AL30 could be a "meteoroid" if it would hit and
leave a piece to be recovered. Just be very patient and
live a long time... (Always a good idea anyway.)
Sterling K. Webb
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message ----- From: "Melanie Matthews"
<[email protected]>
To: "Ron Baalke" <[email protected]>; "Meteorite Mailing
List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 8:26 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 Will Fly Past
TheEarth
Hello everyone - hope you all had a happy new year!
Interesting.
I have been wondering - what is the size of natural space objects
that
the draws the line between an asteroid and a meteoroid? Could this
be
considered a meteoroid?
Regards
-----------
Melanie
IMCA: 2975
eBay: metmel2775
Known on SkyRock Cafe as SpaceCollector09
Unclassified meteorites are like a box of chocolates... you never
know what you're gonna get!
----- Original Message ----
From: Ron Baalke <[email protected]>
To: Meteorite Mailing List <[email protected]>
Sent: Tue, January 12, 2010 4:10:27 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 Will Fly Past The
Earth
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news167.html
Small Asteroid 2010 AL30 Will Fly Past The Earth
Don Yeomans, Paul Chodas, Steve Chesley & Jon Giorgini
NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office
January 12, 2010
[Graphic)
Trajectory of Asteroid 2010 AL30 Past Earth on January 12/13, 2010
Asteroid 2010 AL30, discovered by the LINEAR survey of MIT's Lincoln
Laboratories on Jan. 10, will make a close approach to the Earth's
surface to within 76,000 miles on Wednesday January 13 at 12:46 pm
Greenwich time (7:46 EST, 4:46 PST). Because its orbital period is
nearly identical to the Earth's one year period, some have suggested
it
may be a manmade rocket stage in orbit about the Sun. However, this
object's orbit, reaches the orbit of Venus at its closest point to
the
Sun and nearly out to the orbit of Mars at its furthest point,
crossing
the Earth's orbit at a very steep angle, and this actually makes it
very
unlikely that 2010 AL30 is a rocket stage. Furthermore, our
trajectory
extrapolations show that this object cannot be associated with any
recent launch and it has not made any close approaches to the Earth
since well before the Space Age began.
It seems more likely that this is a near-Earth asteroid about 10-15
meters across, one of approximately 2 million such objects in
near-Earth
space. One would expect a near-Earth asteroid of this size to pass
within the moon's distance about once every week on average.
To take advantage of this close approach, there are plans to observe
it
with the Goldstone planetary radar on Wednesday evening, Jan. 12
beginning at 6:20 PST. The radar data could dramatically improve the
object's orbit and provide additional information on its size and
shape.
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