Two nights before, a very similar fireball to the one on 13th above Mediterranan Sea

On January 15th 2021, at 01h24 UT, Calar Alto Observatory (Almería) registered its second fireball of the year. And curiously it was very similar to the first one, only two nights ago.

In this case, SMART Project’s detectors located at Calar Alto (Almería), Sierran Nevada (Granada), La Hita (Toledo) and Seville observatories detected this event.

Calar Alto Observatory (Almería) recorded the object with one of its external surveillance webcams.

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 comet which impacted against our atmosphere at an estimated speed of 105.000 km/h.

The luminous part of the phenomena started at an altitude of 105 km above the south part of the Mediterranean Sea. Then the object moved southwestward entering into Africa and finished at an altitude of 65 km above the ground.

It is curious to observe how this fireball was similar to the 13th one, with a similar position over the sea, but with an opposite direction. 

Note also the nice final double fulguration.

The above image shows the path followed by this fireball

Below is the video registered with the external surveillance camera 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.