Nice fireball above Granada and Jaén (South Spain) on July 29th 2020


pathAt 00:31 UT (02:31 local time) a very long and nice fireball flew above the skies of Granada and Jaén provinces (South Spain)

This object could be registered with SMART Project's detectors operated at Calar Alto (Almería), Sierra Nevada (Granada), Seville and La Hita (Toledo) observatories.

At Calar Alto Observatory (Almería) the west surveillance webcam could also record the event.

Following the analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC), SMART Project's PI,  this fireball was caused by a fragment detached from an asteroid which impacted against our atmosphere at a speed of about 57.000 km/h.

The luminous event started at an altitude of 78 km above Granada province. Then the object moved northeastward entering into Jaén province where it finished at an altitude of 41 km.

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

Below are the videos from the the surveillance webcam and the SMART detector, both 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.