Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 138, 1-9

Video record (CD copy attached) of the Spain bolide of June 14, 1996: The atmospheric trajectory and orbit

J.A. Docobo¹ - Z. Ceplecha²

Send offprint request: Z. Ceplecha

1 - Astronomical Observatory "Ramon Maria Aller", University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
e-mail: oadoco@usc.es
2 - Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences, 251 65 Ondrejov Observatory, Czech Republic
e-mail: ceplecha@asu.cas.cz

Received November 26, 1998; accepted February 2, 1999

Abstract:

On June 14, 1996, a very bright bolide (SP960614) appeared over Galicia, the NW region of Spain. A casual video record of the bolide flight is available and its CD ROM copy included in this paper. We were able to deduce accurate horizontal coordinates from digitized video-recorded images and combine them with numerous visual observations. In order to get reasonable data from visual sightings, we visited all places listed in Table 1 and measured the corresponding horizontal coordinates. The video record helped also in sorting the quality of individual visual sightings. The trajectory computed was very shallow (near horizontal flight), and in this respect similar to the Peekskill bolide. The body with initial mass of the order of 10⁴ kg moved with initial velocity of $\approx\!\!15$ kms^-1 and suffered severe gross-fragmentation. Individual larger fragments are well visible on the video record. Geographical coordinates, heights, and velocities of the main body are given for individual time instants during the video recorded part of the trajectory. During this part of the trajectory a model of gross-fragmentation was applied to the observed values. Mass loss at discrete trajectory points was responsible for the majority of the ablation. The orbit of the body was of low eccentricity and low inclination with aphelion close to the Mars orbit. The most probable terminal mass (meteorite mass) of the main body was of about 1 kg. The dark-flight computations are of low accuracy due to the shallow trajectory, and only a large area of some $22\times 46$ km could be given as possible impact region of meteorites between 0.1 and 10 kg. The relative positions of individual fragments according to the main body during the flight are also given.

Key words: meteors, meteoroids