And the meteor news keeps on coming! It's been a fun week watching people get excited about flybys, with all deference and sympathies to the people who were scared or hurt by the blast in Russia.
As with every interesting space item that captures the interest of the public, loads of questions, myths and conspiracy theories follow! I think my favorite so far is the Russian politician who think the meteorite impact was an American weapons test. Interesting how the tin foil hat pack always wants to give the US government far more credit for efficiency than I suspect it truly possesses.
On a less humorous note, however, it's difficult to listen to newscasters use words incorrectly,spread disinformation, or just downright keep their mouths unfortunately open while their mind wanders -- like the CNN talking head who wondered aloud if asteroids are caused by global warming! Yikes.
Worse yet are those who -- should be doing their homework, but -- confuse the science of weather (meteorology) with the science of meteors (meteoritics) or meteorites (aerolithology).
After a short informal poll of Facebookers, I thought I'd try to put together a quick-handy guide of space sciences (remembering that earth science is also a space science! Hey we're part of planetology too):
You will notice of course, the NOT-science of "Astrology" -- or the alleged affect of celestial bodies on human behavior -- is omitted.
For a complete and fascinating list of ALL scientific disciplines, not just the Space Cadet ilk, go to Ancient Sciences' List of Sciences and Related Studies Worldwide, where you'll find the official terms for the study of places, animals, peoples, bodies, hair, monsters, language, heat, stamps, nutrition, poisons, finance, bodies, medicines, races, elections, war, peace, drugs, history, ethics, cultures, and dozens more!
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