A beautiful bolide occurred during the dawn of April 12, 2019 on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It was recorded by stations JJS1 / SC in Monte Castelo and CFJ2 / RS in Taquara. In addition, the flash generated by it was recorded by other 5 BRAMON stations and also by the meteorological Satellite GOES-16. Check out some of these images in the video below:

The bolide was initially perceived by Gabriel Zaparolli, a young BRAMON member from Torres – RS. On the morning of this Friday, 12, he noticed that his camera had registered a flash during the night. Flashes are commonly detected in BRAMON monitoring cameras, and may be associated with lightning, fireworks, and in some cases, very bright meteors. Zaparolli himself perceived that this flash had a typical movement of a bolide and warned the BRAMON group about what happened. Shortly thereafter, the record was found in the cameras of Monte Castelo – SC and Taquara-RS and in the images of Satellite GOES-16.

Analysis

After analyzing the images recorded by stations CFJ2 / RS and JJS1 / SC, it was concluded that the meteoroid, weighing between 6.3 and 16 Kg, hitted the Earth’s atmosphere over Atlantic Ocean at a speed of 33.95 Km/s, that is, 122,200 Km/h. The object was totally consumed in its atmospheric passage until reaching the altitude of 36.83 Km, about 145 Km of Rio Grande do Sul coast.

From the data of its atmospheric passage calculated by the triangulation of the images, it was possible to retrocede the movement and calculate the meteoroid orbit around the Sun, before its encounter with the Earth. This meteoroid had an elongated orbit, with perihelion of only 0.253 AU, internal to Mercury orbit. Its origin is probably the Main Asteroid Belt, since its orbit had low inclination (2.8 deg) and its aphelion was between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. No known asteroid with orbit similar to this meteoroid was found and not meteor shower associated with it, therefore being a sporadic meteor.

This is the 4th large meteor analyzed by BRAMON in the last 30 days only in Brazil. On March 24, there was a large fireball registered late in the afternoon on the coast of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. The next day, a great meteor was registered in the interior of Santa Catarina and on this April 03, a big bolide was captured in the interior of Minas Gerais.

If you saw, filmed or photographed a brilliant meteor like this, you can send your report to http://bramon.imo.net.
It is easy, fast and you still contribute to the study of these phenomena.

Credits:

Videos:

• Carlos F. Jung (Taquara),
• Gabriel Zaparoli (Torres), and
• Jocimar Justino (Monte Castelo)

Data Analisis and Calculations:

• Carlos di Pietro Bella,
• Carlos F. Jung,
• Daniela Mourão,
• Gabriel Gonçalves,
• Jocimar Justino,
• Marcelo Zurita, and
• Rachel Albrecht