BOLIDE — NATIONAL (FR) 10.02.2015

On 10 February 2015, many witnesses across southern France, from Pyrénées-Atlantiques to Hérault, saw a very bright ball cross part of the sky. It was also seen in Spain from the Basque Country to Catalonia. CNES's automatic camera in Toulouse recorded it at 19:22. GEIPAN received 3 formal accounts; see the summary table. La Dépêche du Midi and the Ciel des Hommes website received more than 80 accounts. The source states that a three-dimensional trajectory reconstruction was in progress using other recordings from cameras at Pic du Midi and in Spain. GEIPAN explains that this luminous phenomenon, a fireball, results from atmospheric entry of a large meteoroid, described as a stone weighing more than 100 g and ranging from a few centimetres to 1 m. The source places the process between 100 and 40 km altitude, involving heating and ionisation of the upper atmosphere. It states that colours such as green, white and yellow can vary with the meteoroid's entry angle. Fragments reaching the ground are called meteorites. The high altitude explains visibility over a radius exceeding 200 km. Strong brightness often creates a misleading impression of proximity, although the event is high above the ground. In this later explanation the source gives a start near 100 km and an end near 20 km, differing from the earlier 40 km lower figure. Witness times ranged substantially, from 19:15 to 19:40, which GEIPAN notes is common for events seen by many people. The trajectory and speed were characteristic of a natural meteoroid entering the atmosphere. GEIPAN classified the case A: a fireball caused by atmospheric entry of a small astronomical body.