At 6:11 localtime (5:11 UT), a very bright fireball flew over the Center-South part of Spain. This is the fourth fireball registered this week from Calar Alto Observatory with both the SMART Project’s detectors and with the webcams of the Calar Alto Observatory external surveillance system. In this case the object was also registered with SMART Project’s detectors operating at La Hita (Toledo), La Sagra (Granada), Huelva and Sevilla observatories.
As the preliminary analysis carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (University of Huelva), PI of SMART Project, have determined, this event was a Leonid caused by the entry in our atmosphere of a detached fragment from Tempel-Tuttle comet at a speed of about 260.000 km/h. The luminous phenomena started at an altitude of about 139 km above the South of Albacete province (Center-South Spain), it moved Northwestward and then finished at an approximate altitude of 88 km above the ground.
The image below shows the path the object followed over the Center-South part of Spain, flying above the South of Albacete province.
Next are the videos registered with both the north detectors of the SMART Project and the north surveillance webcam, both located at Calar Alto 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.