OBJECTIVES

STRUCTURE

RESEARCH LINES

ABOUT US


THE BEJAR BOLIDE: A TWO TONES METEOROID DESINTEGRATED OVER SALAMANCA, SPAIN ON JULY 11 2008.

THE IMPRESSIVE EVENT WAS WIDELY OBSERVED FROM PORTUGAL, SPAIN, AND SOUTH OF FRANCE.

An impressive fireball of absolute magnitude -18 was observed at 21h17m38.9s (+-0.1s) UTC on Friday 4 January, 2008 over the Salamanca province. The event was recorded by the Spanish Meteor and Fireball Network (SPMN) and the scientific output has been the following paper:

  • Trigo-Rodriguez J.M., J. M. Madiedo, I. Williams, A.J. Castro-Tirado, J. Llorca, S. Vítek, and M. Jelínek.(2009) "Observation of a very bright fireball and its likely link with comet C 1919 Q2 Metcalf." published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.14363.x, direct doi link to the paper .

    MNRAS PRESS RELEASE

    MNRAS press release written by Robert Massey available here

    FIGURES FOR PRESS.

    The Bejar bolide photographed from Torrelodones, Madrid, Spain. The incoming fireball is the streak to the right of the floodlit house. The bright light at the top is the overexposed Moon. Credit: J. Perez Vallejo/SPMN.
    A close-up image of the Bejar bolide, photographed from Torrelodones, Madrid, Spain. Credit: J. Perez Vallejo/SPMN. high-resolution download here
    A frame of the bolide sequence recorded by SPMN video station located in Sevilla Credit: José M. Madiedo (Universidad de Huelva-CIECEM).
    A frame of the bolide sequence recorded from Huelva. Credit: Alberto J. Castro-Tirado from station BOOTES-1 (INTA-CEDEA).
    A diagram of the orbits of the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Omicron Draconids and the boulder that led to the Bejar bolide. The Sun is at the centre. The orbits of the particles and boulder are highly inclined compared with the paths of the planets around the Sun. Credit: Josep M. Trigo-Rodríguez/SPMN. high-resolution download here

    ANIMATION AND VIDEOS OF THE EVENT

    Animation recreating the likely origin of Bejar bolide in comet C/1919Q2 Metcalf, and some of the pictures and videos obtained by the Spanish Meteor and Fireball Network. Credits are included at the end of the video. The following formats are available (click for direct downloading):

  • MPEG (32.1Mb)
  • Windows Media (5.4Mb)


    ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (IN SPANISH):

  • Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) press release

  • SPMN press release


  • SEE OTHER SPMN NEWS (IN SPANISH)

    SPMN e-mail