Bright fireball over the Atlantic Ocean

A bright fireball was spotted over the Atlantic Ocean at 21:33 UTC on September 10, 2022, by a wide number of casual eyewitnesses from Spain, who reported it on social networks.

The event was generated by a meteoroid from a comet that hit the atmosphere at about 237 000 km/h.

The fireball began at an altitude of about 143 km (88 miles) over the Cantabrian Sea, over a point located at about 115 km (71 miles) from the coast of Asturias, northern Spain.

From that location, it moved southwest, and ended at a height of around 84 km (52 miles) over the Atlantic Ocean, over a point located at about 14 km (8.7 miles) from the coast of La Coruña, Spain.

This bright meteor was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN) from the meteor-observing stations located at La Hita Observatory (Toledo), El Guijo Observatory (Madrid), and Coruña.

It was analyzed by the principal investigator of the SMART project: Dr. Jose M. Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).

Featured image credit: Meteoroides