Very bright fireball turns night into day over southern Spain
Image credit: Observatorio de Calar Alto / www.caha.es
A very bright fireball was recorded over southern Spain at 18:46 UTC on October 14, 2022., briefly turning night into day.
The event was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at about 53 000 km/h.
The fireball began at an altitude of about 93 km (58 miles) over the Gulf of Cádiz, in Andalusia’s Atlantic coasts, moved north, and ended at a height of around 18 km (11 miles) over the US Rota Naval Base in the province of Cádiz.
The preliminary analysis of this event shows that the rock was not fully destroyed and a part of it survived and reached the ground as a meteorite.
This bright meteor was recorded in the framework of the SMART project and analyzed by the principal investigator of the SMART project: Dr. Jose M. Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
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