All meteorites falling to Earth, you are being monitored!
Fireballs can now be seen streaking across the sky thanks to the ever-expanding usage of security cameras, vehicle dashcams, and doorbell cams. Sometimes, all that visual data can also be used to track and find rocks in space.
In February 2020, hundreds of people in Slovenia, Croatia and Italy reported seeing a bright beam of light that was moving across the sky. There was also a loud explosion and visible dust trail in the sky. This event was captured on several cameras, one of which was mounted on a bicycle helmet.
Composite of video observations from Slovenia, Hungary, Italy, and Slovenia of the Slovenian fireball. Credit: Denis Vida & colleagues
Combining observations from multiple cameras located around 100 km apart can pinpoint a fireballs location to within 50m. It is also possible to calculate its atmospheric trajectory and preatmospheric orbit using this method, according to Dr. Denis Vida, University of Western Ontario. He presented a paper about finding meteorites at the Europlanet Science Congress 2021.
Vida and his coworkers estimate that the original stony object that streaked through space was approximately one meter in diameter and weighed around four metric tons. It broke into at most 17 pieces.
Three fragments weighing in at 720 grams were recovered and sent to laboratories for analysis. The largest fragment, which was captured in videos, has an estimated weight of around ten kilograms. However it is still not found. Vida suggested that it could have fallen into a muddy field or been accidentally plowed in.
Video from Dashcam of the fireball seen from Sesvete, Croatia. Credit: Denis Vida et al.
Vida stated that the pieces of the Novo Mesto space rocks, which are now named after the Slovenian town where they were found, are normal chondrites. Researchers are trying to find out where it came from. It could reveal information about its origin, and the history of how the space rock formed in the early Solar System.
Screenshot of SkyFit software showing heights of lampsposts and houses for calibration. Credit: Denis Vida et al.
Vida stated that the path of fireballs is located in an area with several all-sky cameras which are specifically designed to look for meteors and fireballs. This fireball happened during the day, when most of these cameras are off. The dashcams and security cameras captured footage that helped locate the meteorites.
Researchers claim that this is one of 40 fallen space rocks that has been found within weeks of their impact on Earth. Another well-known fireball was the Chelyabinsk explosion in 2013. This was also captured by security cameras and dashcams. The moment that a meteor fragment hit a frozen lake created a hole of 20 feet (6 meters) in the ice, was captured by a security camera. A 1/2-ton chunk of the Chelyabinsk Meteorite measured 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length. Divers were able extract it. Scientists weighed it and it broke into three pieces.
Caption: A piece of Novo Mesto meteorite measuring 48 grams Credit: Bojan Ambroi? (Center of Excellence on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Slovenia and https://bojanambrozic.com/).
Continue reading:
Europlanet Press Release
Paper: Novo Mesto meteorite orbit and fall trajectory. Fragmentation analysis using optical observations.
