The "Valencia de las Torres" superbolide of August 23, 2012

Abstract

On August 23, 2012, a superbolide was recorded by our fireball monitoring systems operating in the south and center of Spain. Its emission spectrum was also obtained in the framework of the continuous spectroscopic campaign developed by the SPanish Meteor Network (SPMN) since 2006. In this work we present the analysis of this event, which was produced by a meteoroid with a cometary origin. Figure 1. Composite image of the fireball as imaged from Sevilla (top) and El Arenosillo (bottom). Instrumentation and data reduction methods: An array of low-lux CCD video cameras (models 902H and 902H Ultimate from Watec Corporation, Japan) has been used to image the fireball considered in this work. A more detailed description of these systems and their operation has been given in [1, 2]. Some of these CCD devices are configured as spectral cameras, with transmission diffraction gratings attached to the objective lens. For trajectory, radiant and orbital parameters calculation we have employed our AMALTHEA software. The emission spectrum was analyzed with our CHIMET program.