Fireball in front of Almería’s coast (south Spain) on October 24th 2017

This fireball, registered within the SMART Project framework and happened last October 24th 2017, at 23:37 local time (21:37 UT) flew in front of Almería’s coast. The object was registered with SMART detectors located at Calar Alto (Almería) and La Sagra (Granada) observatories, together with one of the Calar Alto Observatory webcams pointing to southeast.

According to the analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (University of Huelva), the SMART Project’s PI, the fireball flew over the Mediterranean Sea southeastward. It was caused by the impact against the Earth atmosphere of a rock detached from a comet at a speed of about 72.000 km/h. The fireball emission spectrum is shown on the image.

The fireball started at an altitude of about 108 km and it extinguished at about 65 km above the Mediterranean Sea Level.

On the right figure is presented the path this object followed above the sea.

Below are the videos that could be registered with the SMART Project detector and with the sky southeast webcam, both of them located at Calar Alto Observatory.

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.