Impressive and bright fireball in front of Almería’s East coast on February 6th 2019

At 00:33 UT (1:33 local time) a really impressive and bright fireball flew above Almería's East coast (Southeast Spain).

This event could be registered with the SMART Project’s detectors operated at Calar Alto (Almería), La Hita (Toledo), Sierra Nevada (Granada), La Sagra (Granada) and Sevilla observatories.

Calar Alto Observatory surveillance system could also record this object with some of the cameras.

Following the preliminary analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (University of Huelva), PI of the SMART Project, this fireball has an asteroidal origin, and it flew in front of the East coast of the province of Almería (Southeast Spain). The event started at an altitude of about 116 km and it finished at an altitude of 58 km. It speed was 72.000 km/h and all it trajectory happened above the Mediterranean Sea as shown on the above image.

Below are the videos that could be registered with Calar Alto Observatory surveillance webcams and also with Calar Alto Observatory SMART East detector.

The following video does not show the fireball itself, but only the reflection produced that perfectly illuminated the 2.2m telescope

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.