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ARCHIVED - Great ball of fire crosses Andalusian skies and disintegrates over Seville
Multiple witnesses in Málaga, Cádiz and Seville reported having seen the ball of fire, which entered the atmosphere at around 11.33 pm.
Anyone in southern Andalusia who happened to be looking towards the heavens late on Monday evening had quite a surprise as an impressive ball of fire could be visibly seen flying through the sky above.
A piece of rock from a potentially dangerous asteroid, known as 2004 HW, entered the atmosphere over the province of Málaga at around 11.33 pm at a speed of 50,000 kilometres per hour, a scientist from the Andalusian Astrophysics Institute has reported on social media.
The rock caught fire at an altitude of 83 kilometres directly over Alcorrín in Málaga and travelled in a northeasterly direction until it eventually petered out 38 kilometres up over Casariche in Seville.
Witnesses in the provinces of Málaga, Cádiz and Seville may have seen several explosions within the ball along the way, the astrophysicist explained.
Luckily the rock, spotted by SMART project detectors located in Seville, La Sagra (Granada), Sierra Nevada, Calar Alto and La Hita (Toledo), disintegrated entirely in the sky, and no fragments fell to earth or posed any risks.
The SMART project is a SWEMN (Southwestern Europe Meteor Network) initiative coordinated by the Andalusian Astrophysics Institute to constantly monitor the sky in order to record and study rocks from different objects in the Solar System that collide with the earth’s atmosphere.
Video: José Maria Madiedo