(meteorobs) meteorobs meteor impacts and terms

[Chris Peterson]

The reality is that meteoritics is a very specialized area. This is apparent 
after most fireballs, when the press seeks out "local astronomers" at 
colleges or planetariums. As most of us have observed, the majority of the 
information coming from these sources is pretty poor, although I don't doubt 
that most of the astronomers involved are otherwise well educated, 
intelligent folks.

If most _astronomers_ understand little or nothing about meteor dynamics 
(and I should add that  most geologists are unfamiliar with meteorites, as 
well), it is probably not realistic to expect that the average person will 
be able to distinguish natural from artificial meteors, or even that many 
people won't confuse contrails or the ISS for fireballs.

On our side is the fact that the general public is fascinated by meteors. 
There are not many "scientific" subjects that elicit so much interest. As 
meteoriticists we have the opportunity to exploit that interest. When we 
have a fireball over Colorado, I receive hundreds or even thousands of 
reports. I respond to everyone, give interviews on TV and radio, and 
generally do what I can to educate and maintain interest. Over the years, 
I've seen the level of knowledge around here increase tremendously- the 
reports on the news are much more accurate, I get good questions from 
teachers, and I see my website traffic shoot up, telling me that people are 
paying attention.

Chris

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


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "drobnock" <drobnock at penn.com>
To: <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 9:55 AM
Subject: (meteorobs) meteorobs meteor impacts and terms


> So that is settled.  We study astronomy and there is the subset known as
> the  study of meteoritics.
>
> But with in the United States, there is still the teaching of science.
> But,  will this teaching help distinguish between a 90 second fireball
> and a 3 second fireball,  and if a streak in the sky's of Texas is a
> volcanic rock from a distant planet (John Carr, 1805)   or part of
> wrecked satellite.
>
> Only time will tell.
>
> George John Drobnock