English (UK)
A very bright fireball flew above Madrid and Segovia provinces at 01h24 UT of March 12th 2023.
This object could be registered with the SMART Project’s detectors operated at Calar Alto (Almería), Huelva, La Hita (Toledo), Sierra Nevada (Granada), La Sagra (Granada) and Seville observatories.
Despite the big distance between Segovia and Calar Alto in Almería, this phenomena was also recorded with two of the external cameras of this observatory.
The data of the preliminary analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA_CSIC), points that this fireball had an asteroidal origin. The luminous part of the event started at an altitude of 71 km above Madrid province. Then the object moved northwestward, entering into Segovia province and finished at an altitude of 33 km above the ground. The initial speed of the fireball was 53.000 km/h.
The picture shows the long path this object followed above Madrid and Segovia.
Below are the videos registered with the two external cameras 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.
