Bright Fireball Streaks Across Northwest Morocco at 245,000 km/h

The detectors of the SMART project, from the Andalusian Institute of Astrophysics (IAA-CSIC), the astronomical observatories of Seville, Sierra Nevada and La Sagra (Granada), Calar Alto (Almería) and La Hita (Toledo) recorded the passage of a fireball in the Moroccan sky, in the northwest, at a speed of 245,000 km/h.

To read: Fireball Streaks Across Moroccan Sky at 36,000 km/h, Spotted by Spanish Researchers

According to the analysis of the principal researcher of the SMART project, José María Madiedo, from the Andalusian Institute of Astrophysics (IAA-CSIC), the passage of the fireball was recorded in the early morning of September 11 at 5:25 a.m., reports EFE. It would be caused by the entry into the Earth’s atmosphere of a rock (a meteoroid) that broke off from a comet at a speed of about 245,000 km/h. It then continued its course in the northwest direction of Morocco, at an altitude of about 77 kilometers.

To read: Spectacular Fireball Streaks Across Moroccan Sky at 87,000 MPH

The SMART project detectors are installed as part of the Southwest Europe Fireball and Meteor Network (SWEMN), whose objective is to constantly monitor the sky to record and study the impact on the Earth’s atmosphere of rocks and various objects in the solar system.