The Spanish Fireball Network: Popularizing Interplanetary Matter

In order to increase in Spain the social interest in the study of interplanetary matter (asteroids, comets and meteoroids) we created the Spanish Photographic Meteor Network (SPMN) in 1997. This network has been dedicated to studying interplanetary matter with participation of researchers from three universities (Universitat Jaume I, Universitat de Barcelona and Universitat de Valencia), the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia and it is also supported by the Atmospheric Sounding Station at El Arenosillo (INTA-CEDEA) and by the Experimental Station La Mayora (EELM-CSIC). In order to promote the participation of amateurs, our homepage…

Chemical abundances determined from meteor spectra II. Evidence for enlarged sodium abundances in meteoroids

9 pages, 5 figures.-- Printed version published Mar 2004.

Protoplanetary Disks, Solar System Minor Bodies and Origin of Life

In the last decade, planetary science researchers have obtained significant advances on the origin and evolution of life on Earth. The increasing resolution and the development of new instruments (as space telescopes and adaptative optics) has provided first detailed images on protoplanetary disks and star formation regions. Moreover, in the last few years, doppler spectroscopic technique has confirmed the presence of extrasolar planets. These evidence shows planetary formation as a continuous and very common process in the Cosmos, indicating that our Solar System is not too special as was suggested in the past.

Chemical abundances determined from meteor spectra: I. Ratios of the main chemical elements

Relative chemical abundances of 13 meteoroids were determined by averaging the composition of the radiating gas along the fireball path that originated during their penetration into the Earth's atmosphere. Mg, Fe, Ni, Cr, Mn, and Co abundances, relative to Si, are similar to those reported for CI and CM carbonaceous chondrites and interplanetary dust particles. In contrast, relative abundances of Ca and Ti in meteor spectra indicate that these elements suffer incomplete evaporation processes. The chemical composition of all meteoroids studied in this work differs from that of 1P/Halley dust.

The 90-day oscillations of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot revisited

Abstract We have analyzed a large set of ground-based CCD images covering the period from 1993 to early 1999, to address the current status and behavior of the 90-day longitudinal oscillations of the Jovian Great Red Spot (GRS). The good temporal sampling of these data have been complemented with a small set of high resolution Hubble Space Telescope images. The average zonal velocity of the GRS from 1994 to 1998 was −3.8 ms−1 with extreme values of −2.4 and −4.2 ms−1 in 1993–1994 resulting from the interactions with nearby features. Our study confirms the existence of the longitudinal oscillations with a mean period of 89.8±0.15 days and an amplitude of 1.2±0.7°. The oscillations survived t…

The Spanish fireball network

Spanish Photographic Meteor Network: An interdisciplinary crosslink

This paper reports the birth of the Spanish Photographic Meteor Network (SPMN), a project that began their activities in 1997 through professional and amateur astronomers, coinciding with the high activity associated to several stream’s outbursts. One of the objectives of the network is to develop a continuous fireball monitoring in Spain and to obtain orbital and chemical information on meteoroids. Today the SPMN is a solid project under the auspices of three Universities (University Jaume I, University of Valencia and University of Barcelona) and one Space Institute (Catalonian Institute for Space Studies). The National Institute for Aerospace Research (INTA) and the Scientific Research C…