Very bright fireball above Gulf of Cádiz (Southwest Spain) last July 22nd 2020

A very nice and bright fireball flew above Gulf of Cádiz on July 22nd 2020 at 01:49 UT (03:49 local time).

The SMART Project's detector at Sevilla could register this object. At Calar Alto Observatory in Almería, the west surveillance webcam could also follow this fireball.

Following the preliminary analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astronfísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC), this was a cometary event.

A detached rock from a comet impacted against our atmosphere at an estimated speed of 220.000 km/h. The initial part of the luminous event started at an altitude of about 120 km above the Gulf of Cádiz (Southwest Spain) and finised at an altitude of 78 km. All its path happened above the sea, as it is shown on the image.

Below are the videos registered at Calar Alto Observatory (Almería). The first video is at real speed while the second one is slow motion. In both cases the blue colour of this object can be appreciated

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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.