The terminology bothers me too because it leads to exactly this problem near the ground: it’s a meteorite only after it lands on the ground, so since a person has some height wouldn’t a direct hit mean being killed by a meteor starting the process of becoming a meteorite? I realize this is multiple levels of pedantry lol
A meteor is the visible passage of a meteoroid, comet, or asteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere.
So the visible phenomenon. You can’t get hit by that.
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or moon.
It’s the thing from outer space as soon as it hits the ground. So to be fair that guy in the comic wasn’t hit by one. You are right. :)
The terminology bothers me too because it leads to exactly this problem near the ground: it’s a meteorite only after it lands on the ground, so since a person has some height wouldn’t a direct hit mean being killed by a meteor starting the process of becoming a meteorite? I realize this is multiple levels of pedantry lol
I would say yes, he was killed by a meteor since it hadn’t quite hit the ground yet.
If it’s a small meteorite, does it become a meteor again if someone throws it?
So the visible phenomenon. You can’t get hit by that.
It’s the thing from outer space as soon as it hits the ground. So to be fair that guy in the comic wasn’t hit by one. You are right. :)
So… He was hit by a meteoroid and didn’t mind?