In the early morning of February 24, the spectacular passage of a huge fireball that crossed the sky could be seen in many towns in southern Spain. In some towns, such as Castro del Río (Córdoba), residents were woken up by the noise and 112 was flooded with calls asking about the event.
No, it was not a UFO. No paranormal phenomena or terrorist attacks. That incredible night show was originated by the impact of a meteoroid against our atmosphere , as reported by experts from the Calar Alto Astronomical Complex (CAHA), in Almería, whose cameras recorded the event in its entirety. “These types of episodes are much more frequent than we think,” explains Jesús Aceituno, deputy director of the CAHA. “It would be a fragment of approximately 400 kg mass detached from asteroid 2013DF. This asteroid has a diameter similar to that of a 15-story building. And the most plausible scenario would imply that the rock detached from this asteroid when it approached to Earth 3 years ago, on February 27, 2013 “ , José María Madiedo, researcher at the University of Huelva and responsible for the preliminary analysis of the event, explains to Muy Interesante. “When detached, the rock began its way in the Solar System in a slightly different orbit than its parent asteroid, thus following a trajectory that led it to collide with our planet on February 24 at 2:32 local time peninsular” .
At the moment, experts are analyzing the images captured by the CAHA and other observatories to obtain more details about the trajectory, the height, the time it took to disintegrate , and all kinds of characteristics of the meteor in question. “The analysis of the phenomenon has made it possible to determine that a part of the rock survived its sudden impact against the atmosphere, so that a portion with a mass of approximately 1 kg would have hit the ground in the form of a meteorite. However, the most It is probable that this 1 kg mass has been fragmented into multiple pieces before reaching the ground, “Madiedo tells us.
The Observatory team is part of a project in collaboration with other institutions that is dedicated precisely to studying this type of objects. ” These are events that occur regularly , and for this reason we have cameras that constantly point to the sky in different directions,” emphasizes the deputy director of the CAHA. Without going any further, in the same morning on February 23, a fireball competed with the full moon for its prominence in the sky, a spectacle that could be seen from different parts of the country.
If we want to witness more events of this type, we will have to keep an eye on the sky in the coming weeks. “Whenever the weather permits, we can see bright fireballs,” explains Madiedo. “For example, a set of meteor showers known as ‘Virginids’ will be active, which usually give rise to very bright fireballs.”
