One last (?) comment regarding "bolide"; Yes it comes from the Latin, and is really a French word, used in France in relation to racing cars. And it really should be pronounced just like "solid". Anne M. Black _http://www.impactika.com/_ (http://www.impactika.com/) [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) President, I.M.C.A. Inc. _http://www.imca.cc/_ (http://www.imca.cc/) In a message dated 1/17/2011 4:26:23 AM Mountain Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Hi Elton & all,
It's funny but I've always been under the same impression as Elton in regards to the term bolide. I'm not sure why though! Basically I've always believed the following to be an approximate summary: "Meteor" - basically a generic term for all meteors and associated light phenomena. "Fireball" - exceptionally large and bright meteor at least as bright as Venus (i.e. -3 to -4 mag). Disintegrating body / sparks etc is still possible with a fireball. "Bolide" - basically a "Fireball" PLUS an audible report. I believe the term bolide originally stems from the Latin term "bolis" which roughly translates to a very large fiery meteor with some sources also referencing the associated audible phenomena. The earliest published reference I found online for "bolis" was Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) "(n.) A meteor or brilliant shooting star, followed by a train of light or sparks; esp. one which explodes." I guess there are many variations and opinions. For the most part... they're probably all pretty much correct. Cheers, Jeff ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
