Fireball crosses the province of Jaén in the direction of Ciudad Real on March 08th


path

At 22:15 UT on March 9, 2023, a bright fireball could be seen from the province of Jaen that crossed the sky in the direction of Ciudad Real (northeast).

This object was registered in the SMART Project detectors operated in Calar Alto (Almería), La Sagra (Granada), La Hita (Toledo) and OSN.

On this occasion, two of the external surveillance web cameras that operate at the Calar Alto Observatory in Almería also recorded the beautiful and cloudy event.

The preliminary analysis of this event was carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC). His conclusions are the next: 

  • Type of event: cometary
  • Initial speed: 80,000 km/h
  • Initial altitude: 79 km
  • Final altitude: 44 km

As shown in the image, this fireball moved from the province of Jaén to the northwest of Andalusia, towards Ciudad Real.

 

Below are the videos of the Calar Alto Observatory external cameras.

 

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.