Fireball with a very long trajectory over South Spain on September 27th


pathWith a very long trajectory and almost parallel to the ground, last night of September 26, at 00:44 UT (02:44 Spanish local time), a fireball could be seen flying over the provinces of Jaén, Granada and Málaga to finish just in the coast of the latter province.

This bright event was registerd with the detectors that the SMART Project operates at Calar Alto (Almería), Huelva, La Hita (Toledo), Sierra Nevada (Granada), La Sagra (Granada) and Seville Observatories.

One of the external camera operated at Calar Alto Observatory in Almería could also record this object.

The preliminary analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC), PI of the SMART Project, concludes that this object had an asteroidal origin. The luminous part of the event started at an altitude of 89 km above Jaén province (South Spain). The fireball then moved southeastward crossing Granada province and finished at an altitude of 78 km just above Málaga coast.

The above image shows the path this object followed above the ground.

Below is the video gathered by the external camera located 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.