Fireball flies along the Almeria coast at 131,000km/h

Fireball flies along the Almeria coast at 131,000km/h

According to analysis from Jose Maria Madiedo, the principal investigator of the SMART project, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), a fireball was detected on December 14, passing over the Mediterranean.

This heavenly phenomenon occurred at about 1:16am, as the rock originating from the asteroid Phaeton, entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It was measured to be travelling at a speed of around 131,000km/h. This fireball was produced by the Geminids he revealed, which reached their maximum activity during that night.

These rocks that intersect the Earth’s orbit are called ‘meteoroids’, and the sudden friction created as they enter the atmosphere at this enormous speed causes the rock to become incandescent.

This reaction generated a fireball that began at an altitude of about 109km above sea level, on a point located approximately 45km to the south of the Murcian town of Cartagena.

From there, it passed in a westerly direction, and after travelling a distance of around 83km, it became extinct at an altitude of about 35km above the sea, at a point located approximately 43km east of Mojacar in Almeria.

Astronomical observatories of Huelva, Seville, Sierra Nevada and La Sagra in Granada, Calar Alto in Almeria, and La Hita in Toledo, all registered the flight of this ball of fire. The SMART project detectors operate within the framework of the Southwest Europe Fireball and Meteor Network (SWEMN).

This is a network of observatories that aim to continuously monitor the sky, in order to record and study the impact against the Earth’s atmosphere of rocks and objects from different Solar Systems, as reported by diariodealmeria.es.

WATCH a video of the Geminids captured on December 16 by the SMART observatory in Cala Alto, Almeria:

___________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories, and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.