Observations of the 2023 February 27 fireball in northern Sweden using the auroral imaging system ALIS_4D

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the use of the ALIS_4D auroral imaging system to observe, analyze, and determine the origin of a fireball in northern Sweden, including trajectory, orbit, and potential parent body.

Contribution

First application of ALIS_4D for meteor analysis, estimating trajectory, orbit, and origin of a fireball using combined observational and modeling techniques.

Findings

Trajectory along the border between Kiruna and Gällivare.

Meteoroid likely originated from an Apollo family asteroid.

Simulations indicate possible Earth disruption and collision course.

Abstract

On 2023 February 27 at 18:15:55.77 UT, a bright fireball streaked across the sky above northern Sweden. The event offered a valuable opportunity to study the phenomenon using an optical system primarily designed for auroral studies, the Auroral Large Imaging System (ALIS_4D), that captured the event. In this study we show the capability of ALIS_4D to perform observations in support of meteor event analysis. We estimated the trajectory from the recorded data and computed the orbit. In addition, we investigated the origin of the meteoroid searching for its parent body. Fitting the analytical ablation model known as $\alpha$-$\beta$ to the trajectory as well as incorporating local wind-field data in Monte-Carlo dark-flight simulations, strewn-fields were computed and physical properties of the meteoroid were estimated. Trajectory analyses delineate a strewn field along the border between Kiruna and G\"allivare in northern Sweden. Our findings indicate that the meteoroid's parent body was likely an Apollo family object. We performed an orbital similarity analysis to identify candidate parent bodies of the fireball. Our simulations suggest that close approaches with Earth could have disrupted the meteoroid's orbit, placing it on a collision course.