English (UK)
Last night of April 5, at 19h20 UT, a bright meteor could be seen flying over the provinces of Ciudad Real and Albacete, breaking into two fragments over the latter province.
This fireball was registered with the SMART Project detectors operated at Calar Alto (Almería), Ayora (Valencia), Huelva, La Hita (Toledo), Sierra Nevada (Granada), La Sagra (Granada), Seville and Faro de Cullera (Valencia) observatories.
Three of the external cameras of Calar Alto Observatory also recorded this event.
The preliminary analysis was carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC), PI of the SMART Project. His conclusions are the next:
- Type of event: asteroidal
- Initial speed: 54,000 km/h
- Initial altitude: 81 km
- Final altitude: 46 km
The above image shows the path this fireball followed above Ciudad Real on its beginning and the main part above Albacete province, where the fireball splits into two fragments.
Below are the videos registered with three of the external cameras operated at Calar Alto Observatory in Almería.
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.
