Very bright fireball over Madrid, Spain

ByTeo Blašković
madrid-fireball-january-2021-spain

Image credit: Meteoroides.net

A very bright fireball was spotted over Madrid at about 02:56 UTC on January 21, 2021, and recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN).

The bolide was generated by a rock from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at about 126 000 km/h.

The fireball began at an altitude of about 84 km (52 miles) over the region of Madrid and ended at a height of around 21 km (13 miles) over the city.

This bright meteor was recorded by SWEMN meteor-observing stations located at Sevilla, La Hita (Toledo), La Sagra (Granada), and Calar Alto (Almería).

The event has been analyzed by the principal investigator of the SMART project, Dr. Jose M. Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).

Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.

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2 Comments

  1. Truly Awesome! btw, if all of your `News Reports` feature similar music and graphics- I will be an Eternal Subscriber of `Watchers !
    remy zero

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