[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”https:\/\/www.ieec.cat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/slider-comunicacio.jpg” max_height=”130px” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”24px||11px|||” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Unitats de recerca” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|700||on|||||” text_font_size=”16px” header_font=”|700|||||||” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” header_font_size_tablet=”28px” header_font_size_phone=”26px” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoiY3VzdG9tX21ldGFfb3JnYW5pemFjaW9uZXMiLCJzZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJiZWZvcmUiOiIiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsImVuYWJsZV9odG1sIjoib2ZmIn19@[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_title author=”off” categories=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” admin_label=”T\u00edtol i data” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” title_font=”Cairo|300|||||||” title_font_size=”40px” meta_font=”||on||||||” meta_font_size=”16px” title_font_size_tablet=”35px” title_font_size_phone=”30px” title_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text admin_label=”Subt\u00edtols” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Source Sans Pro||on||||||” text_font_size=”24px” text_line_height=”1.1em” text_font_size_tablet=”22px” text_font_size_phone=”20px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_post_title title=”off” meta=”off” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” border_width_top=”10px” border_color_top=”#406fda” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”15px” text_line_height=”1.1em” background_color=”rgba(64,111,218,0.15)” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”30px|20px|30px|20px|true|true” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Caption:<\/strong> Frames from four videos used in the article to study the SPMN180524F superbolide. The images are max-combined from the video frames. Some saturated frames have been removed for illustration purposes. From left to right: Navianos de Valverde, Estepa, Sanl\u00facar de Barrameda, and Casas de Mill\u00e1n. A frame from a video shared on social media that captures the final part of the luminous phase is shown in the centre. [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” link_font=”|700|||on||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n On 18 May 2024, a giant superbolide overflew the Iberian Peninsula, being captured by the video stations monitoring the sky of the <\/span>Spanish Meteor Network<\/span><\/a> (SPMN). A team led by researchers from the <\/span>Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia<\/span><\/a> (IEEC \u2014 Institut d\u2019Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) at the <\/span>Institute of Space Sciences<\/span><\/a> (ICE-CSIC) reconstructed the trajectory of the meteoroid and concluded that its most likely source is the Jupiter-family comet (JFC) region. The study is published in the journal <\/span>Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n This is <\/span>the first time that the orbit of a metre-sized meteoroid is dynamically associated with a Jupiter family comet<\/b>. Most rocks impacting Earth\u2019s atmosphere come from orbits that originated in the main asteroid belt. On the contrary, Jupiter family comets are short-period comets with orbital periods less than 20 years. They are believed to have <\/span>formed in the Kuiper Belt<\/b>, a collection of rock-ice bodies located just beyond the orbit of Neptune.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” link_font=”|700|||on||||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The meteoroid was registered by 12 video stations from the SPMN network, a professional-amateur (proam) collaboration led by <\/span>Josep M. Trigo-Rodr\u00edguez<\/b>, IEEC researcher at the ICE-CSIC. The team, led by three researchers of the ICE-CSIC Meteorites, Minor Bodies and Planetary Science Research Group, selected three SPMN videos, another one obtained by <\/span>Pablo Ram\u00edrez-Moreta<\/b> and <\/span>Rainer Kresken<\/b>, co-authors of the study from the <\/span>Planetary Defence Office (OPS-SP) of the <\/span>European Space Agency<\/span><\/a> (ESA)<\/span>, and observations from space<\/span> through USA defence satellites.<\/span> After the <\/span>trajectory and heliocentric\u2014around the sun\u2014orbit of the meteoroid were computed, the team found out that the orbital elements indicated the most likely source is the Jupiter-family comet region, aligning with the SOHO comet family, as its sun skirting orbit is eccentric and inclined enough to be decoupled from the gravitational action of Jupiter.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe so-called 2024 Iberian Superbolide was certainly a special event, characterised by unusual atmospheric fragmentation and a near-Sun orbit. Its metric size presents a challenge to our current understanding of disruption processes,\u201d says Eloy Pe\u00f1a-Asensio, first author of the study, who developed his PhD at the ICE-CSIC and the IEEC, and nowadays is a postdoctoral researcher at Politecnico di Milano.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”#406fda” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cairo|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#406fda” text_font_size=”20px” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Superbolide’s trajectory<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.ieec.cat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/20240805161529_SPMN180524_trajectory.mp4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||-1px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”15px” text_line_height=”1.1em” background_color=”rgba(64,111,218,0.15)” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”30px|20px|30px|20px|true|true” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Caption:<\/strong> Visualisation of the superbolide’s trajectory as it passed over the Iberian Peninsula. [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” link_font=”|700|||on||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The team found surprising that the closest distance to the Sun in the trajectory of this metre-sized meteoroid was 15 million kilometres, meaning a tenth of the distance between Earth and the Sun. At this distance from the Sun, the surface of the rock was subjected to temperatures of about 1000 Kelvin, so <\/span>the meteoroid experienced a quite extreme heating in each approach to the perihelion<\/b>, probably affecting its volatile content.<\/span> \u201cOnce the meteoroid <\/span>reached Earth\u2019s atmosphere at a velocity of 40 kilometres per second, it started to ablate at a height of about 130 km over the sea level, and followed a near-horizontal path, producing a luminous trail more than 500 kilometres long, until it ended over the Atlantic Ocean,\u201d says <\/span>Pau Gr\u00e8bol<\/b>, predoctoral researcher at the ICE-CSIC and the IEEC.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The inferred physical properties of the meteoroid revealed that the superbolide was produced by a relatively fragile carbonaceous meteoroid, but hosting high-strength rocks that reached the lower part of the luminous trajectory at heights above sea level of about 50 kilometres. The team suggests that the meteoroid was a polymict carbonaceous chondrite, containing\u00a0 alien materials to that of a carbonaceous chondrite in its interior due to the collisional gardening experienced over the time it was in interplanetary space, probably crossing regions abundant in rocks with higher-strength.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” link_font=”|700|||on||||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n However, as explained by Eloy Pe\u00f1a-Asensio, the authors did not reject the hypothesis that the impactor could be a thermally processed C-type asteroid due to close encounters with the Sun. Whether such objects end up in this orbit remains an open question. This study also identifies other similar previous impactors, but none of them were metre-sized. This establishes new limits on the expected super catastrophic disruption of sunskirting objects.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”25px” header_2_font_size_tablet=”23px” header_2_font_size_phone=”23px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” link_font=”|700|||on||||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cOur study exemplifies the need to increase our global telescopic coverage to identify metre-sized asteroids and comets experiencing close approaches with the Earth. The detection of this \u2018small comet\u2019 is a case study to learn more about the potential hazard associated with highly eccentric projectiles associated with JFCs, probably contributing between 1 and 5% of the global flux of meteoroids, but rarely being populated by metre-sized projectiles like the one producing this unique superbolide,\u201d says <\/span>Josep M. Trigo Rodr\u00edguez<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After proving that the meteoroid is probably the product of the disruption of an eccentric comet, the team is currently studying the possibility of survival of samples associated with this event. The nature of the rock demonstrates that JFCs might host high-strength materials and end their days as dark bodies crossing periodically the near-Earth region. In addition, metre-sized projectiles from JFCs could be sources of risk, or produce meteorite falls in the right geometrical conditions. <\/span><\/p>\n Press release prepared in collaboration with the Institute of Space Sciences.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”30px||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”#406fda” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text admin_label=”M\u00e9s informaci\u00f3” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cairo|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#406fda” text_font_size=”20px” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n More information<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.1em” link_font=”|700|||on||||” custom_margin=”20px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n <\/span>This research is presented in a paper entitled \u201c<\/span>The 18 May 2024 iberian superbolide from a sunskirting orbit: USG space sensors and ground-based independent observations<\/span><\/a>\u201d, by <\/span>Pe\u00f1a-Asensio, E., Gr\u00e8bol-Tom\u00e0s, P., Trigo-Rodr\u00edguez, J.M.<\/span> et al.<\/span><\/i>, to appear in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters on 6 August 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”#406fda” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text admin_label=”Enlla\u00e7os” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cairo|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#406fda” text_font_size=”20px” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Links<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.1em” link_font=”|700|||on|||#1a1140|” link_text_color=”#1a1140″ link_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”20px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”#406fda” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text admin_label=”Contactes” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cairo|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#406fda” text_font_size=”20px” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Contacts<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”|||20px|false|false” border_width_left=”1px” border_color_left=”#406fda” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.1em” link_font=”|700|||on|||#1a1140|” link_text_color=”#1a1140″ link_line_height=”1.4em” header_4_font=”|700|||||||” header_4_text_color=”#1a1140″ custom_margin=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Credits:<\/strong> Eloy Pe\u00f1a-Asensio et al<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n
Credits:<\/strong> Pau Gr\u00e8bol.<\/span><\/p>\nMetre-sized projectiles close to Earth<\/h2>\n
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IEEC Communication Office<\/h4>\n