English (UK)
At 01:54 UT (03:54 local time) of the night of May 15th 2018, a bright fireball could be observed in front of Almería's (South Spain) coast, above the Mediterranean Sea.
The phenomena could be registered with the detectors that SMART Project operate at Calar Alto (Almería), La Sagra (Granada), La Hita (Toledo), Sierra Nevada (Granada) and Sevilla observatories. This fireball could also be recorded with two of the webcams of the Calar Alto Observatory external surveillance system.
This fireball happened as a result of the abrupt entrance of a comet detached fragment into our atmosphere. The estimated speed of this fragment was about 54.000 km/h. The fireball started at an altitude of about 102 km above the sea, finishing at an altitude of 61 km above the Mediterranean Sea.
Left image shows the emission spectrum of this fireball, as it was registered by the SMART Project's detector placed at Calar Alto Observatory
The trajectory this object followed above the Mediterranean Sea is shown on the right picture.
And below are the videos registered with Calar Alto Observatory (Almería) external surveillance system and with the SMART project's detector working at this observatory.
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.
