Fireball over Almería province (South Spain) on July 19th 2018


 

pathinteriorAt 03:28 UT (05:28 local time) of July 19th 2018, a bright fireball flew above Almería's skies (South Spain). This phenomena was registered with the SMART Project's detectors operated at Calar Alto (Almería), La Sagra (Granada), La Hita (Toledo), Huelva and Sevilla Observatories. As well, this object was also recorded with two of the Calar Alto Observatory surveillance system webcams.

As concludes the preliminary analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (University of Huelva), PI of the SMART Project, this fireball was caused by a meteoroid detached from a comet. The luminous phenomena started when the rock reached our atmosphere at an estimated speed of about 80.000 km/h. After starting at an altitude of about 95 km, the fireball moved northeastward and it finished at a estimated altitude of 43 km above the ground. 

The left image shows the path over the ground this object followed, while the right image shows the emission spectrum of the fireball. 

Below are the videos registered from both the SMART Project's detector and with the surveillance webcams, all of them placed at Calar Alto Observatory (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 (University of Huelva) to track that kind of objects. Specifically, Calar Alto (CAHA) station and the one at Sierra Nevada (IAA-CSIC) constitute a collaboration agreement between Professor Madiedo and both institutions.