English (UK)
Last July 30th, south of Spain had an interesting night due to the peak of Alpha-Capricornids shower and the initial phase of Perseids.
In fact three of these nice objects were registered with both, the SMART Project’s detectors operated at Calar Alto Observatory in Almería, and also several of its externals cameras.
Together with Calar Alto Observatory, SMART Project detectors located at La Hita (Toledo), Sierra Nevada (Granada), La Sagra (Granada), Seville and Huelva, also registered these events.
Below are the preliminary analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC), PI of SMART Project, of the three fireballs.
But let’s start with the last one. An impressive Alpha-Capricornid that took place at 04h16 UT (06h16 local time), when dawn broke towards the east. The details of this magnificent event which corresponds with the above image, are as follows:
- Type of event: cometary (169P/NEAT)
- Initial speed: 88,000 km/h
- Initial altitude: 101 km
- Final altitude: 68 km
As seen on the right image, the fireball crossed the south of Ciudad Real province.
Below are the two videos of this object registered with north cameras of Calar Alto Observatory in Almería.
The other Alpha-Capricornid took place just after midnight, at 00h33 UT. In this case the data are the next:
- Type of event: cometary (169P/NEAT)
- Initial speed: 89,000 km/h
- Initial altitude: 98 km
- Final altitude: 79 km
In this case, the fireball followed a north path above Jaén province.
Below is the video from the external camera operated at Calar Alto Observatory (Almería)
Finally, the Perseid at 03h31 UT, with the next data:
- Type of event: cometary (Swift-Tuttle)
- Initial speed: 220,000 km/h
- Initial altitude: 120 km
- Final altitude: 71 km
As can be seen from the image on the right, the fireball, heading southwest, occurred over the province of Córdoba.
And the video from Calar Alto Observatory external camera:
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.