English (UK)
At 01h13 UT on April 18, 2024, a bright fireball could be seen crossing Extremedura, towards Mérida, leaving behind a small wake.
This object was recorded in the SMART Project detectors operated in Calar Alto (Almería), La Sagra (Granada), Sierra Nevada, El Arenosillo (Huelva), La Hita (Toledo) and Seville.
Two of the external cameras of the Calar Alto Observatory in Almería also followed this nice object.
The preliminary analysis was carried out by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC), PI of the SMART Project, and his conclusions are the next:
- Type of event: asteroidal
- Initial speed: 95.000 km/h
- Initial altitude: 89 km
- Final altitude: 35 km
Below is the video that could be registered with the southwest camera located at 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.