English (UK)
A very nice and long (in duration) fireball flew above Ciudad Real province (mid-south Spain) on September 8th 2021 at 22h47 UT.
This event was registerd with the SMART Project’s detectors operated at Calar Alto (Almería), Sierra Nevada (Granada), La Sagra (Granada), La Hita (Toledo), Seville and Madrid observatories.
Two of the Calar Alto Observatory (Almería) external surveillance webcam also could follow 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 had an asteroidal origin, and was caused by a rock which entered into our atmosphere at an estimated speed of 72.000 km/h.
The luminous part of the phenomena started at an altitude of 98 km. Then the object moved northwestward and finished at an altitude of 35 km above the ground. The whole path this fireball followed was above Ciudad Real province.
The top right figure shows the path this fireball followed above Ciudad Real province.
Below are the videos registered with the surveillance webcams operated 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.
