Burning ‘fireballs’ recorded over Spain and Morocco

Astronomers from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA) have witnessed the rapid passing of two bright meteors across the sky of Spain and Morocco.

The institute’s Smart Project detection system recorded the first meteor on Sunday at 00:26 GMT above northern Spain and the second on Sunday at 02:16 GMT above northern Morocco. 

Saturday’s 'fireball' entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a recorded speed of 64,000 kilometres/hour and Sunday’s entered at 255,000 kilometres/hour, creating a meteor path visible from Spain.

Jose M. Madiedo, a researcher under the Institute's Moon Impacts Detection and Analysis System (MIDAS), said that the brightness of Sunday’s space object over Morocco’s sky “was similar to the full moon, so it could be seen from Andalusia in southern Spain".

“Rocks that cross the Earth's orbit are called meteors," he explained, noting that Sunday’s ‘fireballs’ started at an altitude of 146 kilometers above eastern Morocco.

Both events were also registered with some of the external cameras operated at Calar Alto Observatory in Almería.

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Other recorded events 

Morocco has witnessed similar events in recent months. Last September, several astronomical institutions observed a ‘fireballs’ passing through the skies of northwest the Kingdom.

In May 2020, the American Meteorological Society announced that two meteors had landed in Morocco. A Moroccan team of researchers from the Hassan II University of Casablanca announced the success of their mission to follow the two meteorites that fell in the south of the country.

Sunday’s meteor exhibited several eruptions which caused sudden increases in its brightness. The ‘fireballs’ traveled a total distance in the atmosphere of about 198 kilometres.

The detectors of the Smart Project operate within the framework of the Southwestern European Meteor Network (SWEMN), which aims to constantly monitor the sky in order to record and study the effect of rocks from various sources on the Earth's atmosphere.

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