14 Mar, 2023 @ 08:45
1 min read

WATCH: Glittering fireball streak across sky in Spain’s Madrid and Segovia at 53,000 kilometers per hour

Glittering fireball streak across sky in Spain’s Madrid and Segovia at 53,000 kilometers per hour
Spectacular fireball streak across Spain’s Andalucia on Valentine's Day

A DAZZLING fireball has hurtled across the sky of central Spain.

The bolide, spotted over Spain on March 12, at 2:24 am local time (equivalent to 1:24 universal time), was observed by several witnesses who reported the phenomenon on social networks.

According to astrophysicist Jose María Madiedo, from the Andalucian Astrophysics Institute (IAA-CSIC), the glittering fireball was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at about 53,000 km/h.

The sudden friction as it met the Earth’s atmosphere at this enormous speed made the meteoroid seem incandescent, creating a ball of fire which overflew the region of Madrid and the province of Segovia.

The fireball began at an altitude of about 74 km over the locality of Pedrezuela (Madrid), moved northwest, and ended at a height of around 33 km over Navalilla (province of Segovia).

However, the great luminosity that this solidus reached meant that it could be seen from more than 700 kilometers away from those places.

Throughout its trajectory there were several explosions that caused sudden increases in its luminosity and that were due to abrupt ruptures of the rock.

The total distance that the fireball travelled through the atmosphere before extinguishing itself was about 77 kilometers and the rock was totally destroyed in the atmosphere, meaning no fragment managed to reach the ground.

Its presence was picked up by the SMART project detectors from monitoring stations in Calar Alto, the Sierra Nevada, Seville, La Sagra (Granada), Huelva, Huelva, Breda (Tarragona) and Sant Celoni (Girona),

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

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Cristina Hodgson

Half English, half Spanish animal person. Cristina loves writing about all things fitness, travel and culture, she is also a script writer and novelist. When she's not typing away, you can find her enjoying outdoor sports somewhere off the beaten track in Andalucia. If you have a story get in touch! newsdesk@theolivepress.es

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