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Main Authors: Peña-Asensio, Eloy, Grèbol-Tomàs, Pau, Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M., Ramírez-Moreta, Pablo, Kresken, Rainer
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.15024
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author Peña-Asensio, Eloy
Grèbol-Tomàs, Pau
Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M.
Ramírez-Moreta, Pablo
Kresken, Rainer
author_facet Peña-Asensio, Eloy
Grèbol-Tomàs, Pau
Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M.
Ramírez-Moreta, Pablo
Kresken, Rainer
contents On 18 May 2024, a superbolide traversed the western part of the Iberian Peninsula, culminating its flight over the Atlantic Ocean and generating significant media attention. This event was caused by a weak carbonaceous meteoroid of 1 m, entering the atmosphere at 40.4 km$\,$s$^{-1}$ with an average slope of 8.5$^\circ$. The luminous phase started at 133 km and ended at an altitude of 54 km. The meteoroid's heliocentric orbit had an inclination of 16.4$^\circ$, a high eccentricity of 0.952, a semi-major axis of 2.4 au, and a short perihelion distance of 0.12 au. The superbolide was recorded by multiple ground-based stations of the Spanish Meteor Network (SPMN) and the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as by the U.S. Government (USG) sensors from space. Due to the absence of observable deceleration, we successfully reconciled satellite radiometric data with a purely dynamic atmospheric flight model, constraining the meteoroid's mass and coherently fitting its velocity profile. Our analysis shows a good agreement with the radiant and velocity data reported by the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), with a deviation of 0.56$^\circ$ and 0.1 km$\,$s$^{-1}$, respectively. The presence of detached fragments in the lower part of the luminous trajectory suggests that the meteoroid was a polymict carbonaceous chondrite, containing higher-strength macroscopic particles in its interior due to collisional gardening, or a thermally processed C-type asteroid. The orbital elements indicate that the most likely source is the Jupiter-Family Comet (JFC) region, aligning with the SOHO comet family, as its sunskirting orbit is decoupled from Jupiter. This event provides important information to characterize the disruption mechanism of near-Sun objects.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_15024
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The 18 May 2024 Iberian superbolide from a sunskirting orbit: USG space sensors and ground-based independent observations
Peña-Asensio, Eloy
Grèbol-Tomàs, Pau
Trigo-Rodríguez, Josep M.
Ramírez-Moreta, Pablo
Kresken, Rainer
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Popular Physics
On 18 May 2024, a superbolide traversed the western part of the Iberian Peninsula, culminating its flight over the Atlantic Ocean and generating significant media attention. This event was caused by a weak carbonaceous meteoroid of 1 m, entering the atmosphere at 40.4 km$\,$s$^{-1}$ with an average slope of 8.5$^\circ$. The luminous phase started at 133 km and ended at an altitude of 54 km. The meteoroid's heliocentric orbit had an inclination of 16.4$^\circ$, a high eccentricity of 0.952, a semi-major axis of 2.4 au, and a short perihelion distance of 0.12 au. The superbolide was recorded by multiple ground-based stations of the Spanish Meteor Network (SPMN) and the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as by the U.S. Government (USG) sensors from space. Due to the absence of observable deceleration, we successfully reconciled satellite radiometric data with a purely dynamic atmospheric flight model, constraining the meteoroid's mass and coherently fitting its velocity profile. Our analysis shows a good agreement with the radiant and velocity data reported by the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), with a deviation of 0.56$^\circ$ and 0.1 km$\,$s$^{-1}$, respectively. The presence of detached fragments in the lower part of the luminous trajectory suggests that the meteoroid was a polymict carbonaceous chondrite, containing higher-strength macroscopic particles in its interior due to collisional gardening, or a thermally processed C-type asteroid. The orbital elements indicate that the most likely source is the Jupiter-Family Comet (JFC) region, aligning with the SOHO comet family, as its sunskirting orbit is decoupled from Jupiter. This event provides important information to characterize the disruption mechanism of near-Sun objects.
title The 18 May 2024 Iberian superbolide from a sunskirting orbit: USG space sensors and ground-based independent observations
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Popular Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.15024