Earth-grazing fireball recorded over Spain
Image credit: Meteoroides.net/SMART
An Earth-grazing fireball was recorded over Span at about 20:10 UTC on April 16, 2021. The event lasted for almost 50 seconds and was seen over much of the country.
According to an analysis by Dr. Jose M. Madiedo of the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) and principal investigator of the SMART project framework which recorded the event, this bolide was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at about 61 000 km/h.
The fireball began at an altitude of about 85 km (52.8 miles) over the province of Lugo, region of Galicia in NW Spain, crossed the whole country, and ended over the Mediterranean Sea.
The meteoroid that gave rise to this Earth-grazing bolide survived and left our atmosphere following a modified orbit around the Sun.
The event lasted for nearly 50 seconds.
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.
