Fireball on May 14th above west part of Mediterranean Sea

Last May 14^th 2021, at 02h25 UT, a bright fireball flew above west part of Mediterranean Sea.

The fireball could be registered with the SMART Project’s detectors operated at Calar Alto (Almería), Sierra Nevada (Granada), La Hita (Toledo) and Seville observatories.

Calar Alto Observatory South external surveillance webcam could also record the event.

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 had an asteroidal origin, and was caused by a rock which impacted against our atmosphere at an estimated speed of 68.000 km/h.

The luminous part of the phenomena started at an altitude of 89 km above Mediterranean Sea, in front of South Spain’s coasts. Then the object moved southeastward and finished at an altitude of 29 km above the sea.

The image above shows the path this fireball followed above the Valencia (East Spain).

Below is the video that could be registered with the external surveillance camera operated at Calar Alto Observatory in Almería (South Spain).

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.