(meteorobs) Difference between Bolides and Fireballs

[Chris Peterson]

The IAU has a formal definition for fireball, "a meteor brighter than 
any of the planets", which is generally interpreted to mean "an apparent 
magnitude brighter than -4". This can be found in the IAU Commission 22 
report.

I believe the same report defines meteoroid as a body in space that is 
smaller than an asteroid.

Both of these definitions are rather broad, but that's probably a good 
thing.

I believe the IAU is considering a nomenclature change that would allow 
"meteor" to be used for both the visual phenomenon as well as the actual 
body that causes it, usually called a meteoroid even in the atmosphere. 
But I don't think that change has been adopted.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <meteoreye at comcast.net>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Difference between Bolides and Fireballs


>I don't believe there is any official IAU definition for Bolide, 
>Fireball, or even Meteoroid.
>
> If you can show me otherwise, I'd appreciate it. I've been looking for 
> years.
>
> All definitions I've found are not official or even closely defined, 
> so by definition, are not definitions! :)
>
> Wayne