\tSpace Safety<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t28\/07\/2026
\n\t\t\t\t302 views
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t3 likes<\/p>\n
A meteor that exploded high above the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina in April was detected by lightning imagers aboard European and US weather satellites. Their observations are helping to pin down its likely origin.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMeteor trajectory traced from GOES-E and MTG-I1 weather satellites<\/a><\/p>\n On the morning of 1 April at 02:13 UTC (04:13 CEST), US government sensors detected a high-velocity fireball whose brightness peaked at an altitude of 90.5 km over the South Atlantic, which was duly catalogued in NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS<\/a>) fireball database.<\/p>\n The primary source from such detections are space-based military surveillance\u00a0satellites,\u00a0which have proved adept at identifying meteors entering the atmosphere.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tSatellite positions observing the fireball<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe data passed to CNEOS about such events includes a measurement of total radiated energy and of the estimated entry speed,\u201d explains Juan Luis Cano of ESA\u2019s Planetary Defence team, co-author of a new paper on the event<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the case of this 1 April fireball, the reported velocity components implied such a high entry speed that independent verification of such value was required in order to later assess its possible origin.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tMTG-I in geostationary orbit overlooking Europe, Africa and the Atlantic<\/a><\/p>\n Supplementing the initial US government sensor data, this new paper published in the Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society harnesses observations gathered from a pair of civilian lightning imagers aboard geostationary weather satellites which also observed the fireball between them: the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on the US GEOS-East satellite and the Lightning Imager on Europe\u2019s Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) Imager-1 satellite.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Lightning Imager on MTG-I1 and its US counterpart detect millions of lightning flashes from their approximately 36 000 km altitude on the equator on a daily basis,\u201d notes Juan Luis. \u201cBut not all the flashes they see come from lightning.”<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tLightning imager on MTG-I, right<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWorking with MTG-I satellite operator Eumetsat<\/a> as well as with our American colleagues, our research has shown that fireball detonations have their own distinct signatures, possessing clear linear paths and a gradual increase in intensity before fading away, unlike the fixed points of lightning flashes.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we have been investigating methods to routinely separate out fireballs from lightning<\/a>, to build a global inventory of these events in support of our knowledge of the very small-object population in near-Earth space for planetary defence.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tMTG-I’s Lightning Imager<\/a><\/p>\n ESA graduate trainee Niels Rubbrecht, working on this process, adds: \u201cOur experience has shown that detecting fireballs with the MTG-I Lightning Imager is not simply a matter of identifying a new signal \u2013 it requires rethinking the entire processing chain, which was originally designed and optimised to recognise lightning and reject non-lightning events.\u201d<\/p>\n The new study also notes the availability of relevant acoustic signatures. The international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization<\/a>\u00a0operates a worldwide network of acoustic stations to detect low-frequency \u2018infrasound\u2019 signals inaudible to human ears, associated with nuclear detonations \u2013 and also fireballs.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tFireball light curves observed by the two weather satellites<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHaving documented the multi-sensor record, our next step will be to carry out the detailed analysis required,\u201d explains Juan Luis. \u201cSo far, by applying two independent velocity models to the combined satellite observations, we find a peak-brightness location and direction consistent with the US government findings, but with a velocity magnitude around 18% lower, helping constrain its likely origin from the outskirts of our Solar System.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201dAs part of our coming activities we will include a follow-on\u00a0energy estimate derived from the low-frequency acoustic records, and its intercomparison with space-based estimates.\u201d<\/p>\n \tEU-ESA Workshop in Meteor Observations for Planetary Defence<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tAutumn fireball<\/a><\/p>\n Small \u2018imminent impactors\u2019 are today routinely detected before entering Earth\u2019s atmosphere, creating new opportunities for collaboration across the planetary defence and meteor communities.<\/p>\n For metre-scale objects, pre-impact telescopic observations can be combined with atmospheric measurements from dedicated fireball camera networks, radar, infrasound and seismic stations (to detect impacts) as well as space-based sensors.<\/p>\n Europe has strong capabilities across these different observational techniques, with the potential to connect an object\u2019s orbit and physical properties before atmospheric entry with its subsequent trajectory, fragmentation, impact effects and possible meteorite recovery.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tFlyeye telescope<\/a><\/p>\n In practice however coordination and communication across these communities remain fragmented.<\/p>\n Accordingly the European Commission and ESA\u2019s Planetary Defence Office are jointly organising the EU-ESA Workshop on Meteor Observations for Planetary Defence<\/a>, taking place on 3-5 November in Petralia Sottana, Sicily, Italy \u2013 the same island where ESA\u2019s inaugural asteroid-detecting Flyeye telescope<\/a>\u00a0is being erected, and from where the very first asteroid was discovered, back in 1801.<\/p>\n People interested in participating in person are invited to register by 23 October 2026, and a limited number of presentation slots remain available. A link to the website and registration portal can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Like<\/p>\n Thank you for liking<\/p>\n You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Space Safety 28\/07\/2026 302 views 3 likes A meteor that exploded high above the South Atlantic off the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,128,285],"class_list":["post-829852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}