(meteorobs) Bob L. in the media again:-)

[josephasmus at cox.net]

Greetings fellow observers and meteoricists,

During this slow observatinal period, I thought it'd be okay to post something I just read in the local "San Diego Reader" (our free news,music,and arts weekly).  Matthew Alice(MA), the paper's 'Question and Answer' reporter, had an inquiry this week regarding the name of the study of meteors.

Thought it would be of some interest to some of our list-members.

Joseph

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from San Diego Reader, January 19, 2006

Hey MA:

If the study of weather is called meteorology, what would you call the study of meteors? I read that when the term meteorology was first coined, it was believed that storms, clouds, and meteors were all part of the same "atmospheric disturbance" thingy, so meteorology was just as good a name a cloudology. But what do modern-day meteor studiers get called?

-- Puzzled over something trivial, Santee 

The impression I get is that modern-day meteor studiers are still a little frosted that Aristotle stole their logical name, leaving them to thrash around to find a handle that fits but doesn't sound too weird. It seems they've sort of accomplished their goal. According to local sky watcher Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society, the study of meteors is called meteorics. Therefore, he laments, the people who do it are called meteoricists. Not pretty, but at least nobody thinks they're weathermen. Lunsford cautions that you won't find this name in any dictionary, but "meteorics" and "meteoricists" are "used in astronomical circles and in articles and research papers."