English (UK)
During last January 19th to 20th early morning, about 01:00 Spanish Local Time, a spectacular fireball crossed the sky of Southern Spain. This phenomena has been registered from Calar Alto Observatory, as well as from fireball detection stations located at La Sagra (Granada) and La Hita (Toledo) observatories.
Following the analysis carried out by Professor Madiedo (University of Huelva), this event was produced by the impact against our atmosphere of a rock coming from the main asteroid belt. The collision occurred at a speed of about 28.000 km/h, starting the fireball at an altitude of about 95 km over Mediterranean Sea. The fireball then moved Southeastward, having a final altitude of about 23 km.
The data suggest that part of the object survived its sudden passage through the atmosphere, falling into the sea as a meteorite.
The image shows the emission spectrum of the fireball.
Below are the videos of this event. First video is the one recorded with the east fireball detection station. Second and third videos are taken from the Calar Alto surveillance webcams.
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.