English (UK)
These days in October we are witnessing a beautiful display of fireballs in our skies.
On October 27th and 28th, the detectors of the SMART Project, operating at the Calar Alto (Almería), La Hita (Toledo), Sierra Nevada, La Sagra and Otura (Granada), Mazagón (Huelva), and Seville observatories, recorded several events of great interest.
These fireballs could also be observed through several of the external cameras at the Calar Alto Observatory in Almería.
So far, preliminary analyses carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia IAA-CSIC), Principal Investigator of the SMART Project, have yielded data and conclusions from the fireballs of the 27th and 28th.
October 27th (20:31 UT)
- Event type: asteroidal
- Initial speed: 71.000 km/h
- Initial altitude: 79 km
- Final altitude: 43 km
This fireball crossed the central Iberian Peninsula, flying over the Madrid area, as can be seen in the image on the right. Below are videos captured by the external cameras of the Calar Alto Observatory in Almería.
October 28th
- 00:25 UT
No further information is currently available about this fireball. Below are videos recorded by two of the external cameras at the Calar Alto Observatory.
- 01:33 UT
We also have no additional information about this fireball. We're sharing the videos recorded by the external cameras at the Calar Alto Observatory again, so you can enjoy them.
- 04:01 UT
The last recorded fireball occurred in southern Portugal, as seen in the image on the right. One of the frames from the recording shows the beautiful trail left by this event. Below you can see the videos obtained by the external cameras of the Calar Alto Observatory.
- Event type: cometary
- Initial speed: 226.000 km/h
- Initial altitude: 125 km
- Final altitude: 77 km
Calar Alto (CAHA) fireball detection station, together with the one at the Observatory of Sierra Nevada (IAA-CSIC) and others placed at different locations in Spain, are part of the S.M.A.R.T. project led by Professor José María Madiedo (IAA) to track that kind of objects. Specifically, Calar Alto (CAHA) station and the one at Sierra Nevada (IAA-CSIC) constitute a collaboration agreement between the IAA researcher José María Madiedo and both institutions.