Analisys of a datyme fireball witnessed on August 10, 2012 over the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Meteorite-dropping bolides are rare events that may provide unique samples coming from other bodies in the Solar System. For this reason, the analysis of such events is one of the aims of the SPanish Meteor Network (SPMN), which is currently operating 25 meteor and fireball observing stations to monitor the night sky. In the evening of August 10, 2012, about half an our before sunset, a very bright fireball (at least mag. -14) was witnessed over the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The event took place under daylight conditions and, so, before our detection systems started operation. However, its observation was very favourable for numerous visual witnesses that could account for it. So, despite no images were recorded, the atmospheric path of the bolide could be reconstructed from the observation provided by these. In this work we present a preliminary analysis of this event. Our calculations reveal that, in fact, this fireball could have produced a meteorite, although this would have landed on the Cantabrian Sea.