Fireball crossing Andalucía and Castilla La Mancha (South Spain) border on March 17th


pathinteriorA new fireball flew above the skies of north Andalucía and south Castilla La Mancha at 05h06 UT of last night March 17th.

SMART Project’s detector operated at Calar Alto (Almería), Sierra Nevada (Granada), La Sagra (Granada), La Hita (Toledo), Seville and Madrid observatories, registered the event.

This time, the fireball was also recorded with two of the surveillance cameras located at Calar Alto Observatory in Almería.

Following the preliminary analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC), and SMART project's PI, this event was caused by a rock detached from a asteroid which impacted against our atmosphere at an estimated speed of 100.000 km/h.

The luminous part of the phenomena started at an altitude of 100 km above the north of Andalucía. Then the object moved northeastward, crossing the limits between Andalucía and Castilla La Mancha, and finished at an altitude of 52 km above the south of Castilla La Mancha region.

The top left image shows the path this fireball followed above the ground.

Below are the videos that could be registered with the two external surveillance cameras operated at Calar Alto Observatory in Almería (South Spain).

 


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.