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Fireball Streaks Across Atlantic Coast at 72,000 km/h, Visible from Spain and Morocco
Wednesday 1 December 2021, by
A fireball traveling at 72,000 km/h over the Atlantic coast, between Spain and Morocco, was spotted by researchers from several Spanish institutes.
The passage of the fireball was reported by the detectors of the SMART project led by the Andalusian Institute of Astrophysics (IAA-CSIC), the astronomical observatories of Seville, Sierra Nevada and La Sagra (Granada) and Calar Alto (Almería), reports EFE.
According to José María Madiedo, the principal researcher of the SMART project, the passage of the fireball was recorded on Tuesday at 11:39 p.m. and was widely observed by several residents of southern and central Spain. The most accurate images were captured in Seville where the intense green color of the fireball crossing the sky could be seen.
To read: Bright Fireball Streaks Across Northwest Morocco at 245,000 km/h
The phenomenon occurred after a rock detached from an asteroid and entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of about 72,000 km/h. The fireball started its course at an altitude of about 90 kilometers above the sea, about 81 kilometers off the Moroccan coast. It then continued its journey towards the southeast at an altitude of about 46 kilometers, 72 kilometers off the Moroccan coast.
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.