- EDITIONS: Spanish News Today Murcia Today Alicante Today
Date Published: 17/09/2021
ARCHIVED - Incredible images of fireball spotted in sky over Andalusia, Spain
The meteor lit up southern Spain as it broke up in Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday night
A large meteor crossed over southern Spain at around 10.25pm on Wednesday September 15, illuminating the night sky with a light as bright as the moon. Travelling at around 76,000 kilometres per hour, the fireball was caused by a rock that entered Earth’s atmosphere after breaking off from an asteroid outside our orbit.
The meteorological phenomenon could be seen from more than 600 kilometres away and was most visible in the skies over Seville, Huelva, Córdoba and Extremadura.
The fireball first appeared above the Spanish province of Badajoz at an altitude of 91 kilometres, and from there it continued in a north-westerly direction. It eventually burnt out at an altitude of 22 kilometres above the town of La Albuera, Badajoz. As it went along, the rock began to rupture and explode, creating sudden bursts of brightness that were visible to the naked eye.
El evento ha sido analizado por el astrofísico José María Madiedo del @iaa_csic. Más información en la descripción del vídeo en Youtube: https://t.co/Df0gSC0ni7 @elCorreoWeb @EPAndalucia @tiempobrasero @A3Noticias @EFEciencia @diariosevilla @abcdesevilla @EPExtremadura @20m
— Jose Maria Madiedo (@jmmadiedo) September 16, 2021
The fireball was detected by the Southwest European Meteor and Fireball Network (SWEMN) from observatories in Almería, Granada, Sevilla and Madrid. A small part of the rock is believed to have survived its dramatic breakup and has fallen to the ground as a meteorite, according to José María Madiedo, researcher at the Andalucía Astrophysics Institute (IAA-CSIC) who discovered the meteor.
Image: METEORS/SMART project, meteoroides.net
Contact Murcia Today: Editorial 966 260 896 /
Office 968 018 268