English (UK)
In the early hours of February 18, around 02:02 local time (equivalent to 01:02 universal time), a fireball flew over the sky of Cáceres.
This event was registered with the SMART Project’s detectors operated at Calar Alto (Almería), Sierran Nevada (Granada), La Sagra (Granada), Seville, Huelva, El Aljarafe and La Hita (Toledo) observatories.
Two of the external cameras located at Calar Alto Observatory, in Almería, also followed this object.
Following the preliminary analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC), and SMART project's PI, this event has been caused by a meteoroid that could have impacted the ground in the form of a meteorite, after to pass through our atmosphere at an estimated speed of about 74,000 km/h.
The luminous part of the event began at an altitude of 88 km above the ground in Cáceres. The object then moved in a northeast direction to end at an altitude of 24 km again above the ground of the province of Cáceres.
The image above shows the trajectory that this fireball followed over Cáceres.
Below is the video that could be recorded from one of the cameras of the 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.
