English (UK)
Last March 31st a bright fireball flew over Castilla La Mancha (Spain) skies. The object was registered with SMART Project detectors at 4:36 Spanish local time (2:36 UT). This fireball could be observed with Calar Alto Observatory fireball detection station and with the north surveilllance webcam. The phenomena was also observed at Sevilla, La Hita, Huelva and La Sagra Observatories.
The preliminar data analysis carried out by the Project PI, Professor José María Madiedo (University of Huelva), showed that the event was due to the impact against our atmosphere of a meteoroid detached from a comet at a speed of about 90.000 km/h. The fireball started at an altitude of about 100 km over the ground and flew over the south of Albacete province (south-mid Spain) moving northeastward. The luminous phenomena finished at about 55 km above the ground.
On the image above, you can see the path followed by the object over southwest of Albacete province (Spain).
And below are the videos taken from the Calar Alto Observatory north surveillance webcama and fireball detection station 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 (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.