This article is dedicated to the memory of Professor Alfredo San Miguel . (Received 10 February 2005; revision accepted 24 March 2005)Abstract-An impressive daylight fireball was observed from Spain, Portugal, and the south of France at 16h46m45s UTC on January 4, 2004. The meteoroid penetrated into the atmosphere, generating shock waves that reached the ground and produced audible booms. The associated airwave was recorded at a seismic station located 90 km north of the fireball trajectory in Spain, and at an infrasound station in France located 750 km north-east of the fireball. The absolute magnitude of the bolide has been determined to be −18 ± 1 from a casual video record. The energy released in the atmosphere determined from photometric, seismic, and infrasound data was about 0.02 kilotons (kt). A massive fragmentation occurred at a height of 28 ± 0.2 km, resulting in a meteorite strewn field of 20 × 6 km. The first meteorite specimen was found on January 11, 2004, near the village of Villalbeto de la Peña, in northern Palencia (Spain). To date, about 4.6 kg of meteorite mass have been recovered during several recovery campaigns. The meteorite is a moderately shocked (S4) L6 ordinary chondrite with a cosmic-ray-exposure age of 48 ± 5 Ma. Radioisotope analysis shows that the original body had a mass of 760 ± 150 kg, which is in agreement with the estimated mass obtained from photometric and seismic measurements.

Abstract-The reaction between kamacite grains and H2 + CO gas mixture has been tested in the laboratory under experimental conditions presumed for interplanetary dust particle (IDP) formation in a nebular-type environment (H2:CO = 250: 1 ; 5 x 10-4 atm total pressure, and 473 K). Carbon deposition, hydrocarbon production in the C1-C4 range, and the formation of an €-carbide phase occur when well-defined model FeNi bcc alloy (kamacite) particles are exposed to a mixture of H2 + CO during 103 h. These results strongly support the idea that gas-solid reactions in the solar nebula during CO hydrogenation represent a plausible scenario for the formation of carbides and carbonaceous materials in IDPs, as well as for the production of hydrocarbons through Fischer-Tropsch-type reactions.

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