A large meteorite lihgts up blue the night sky of Spain and Portugal

[metalmachine]

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A large blue fireball has crossed the Iberian Peninsula on the night of Saturday to Sunday, being sighted both in Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, the Community of Madrid, Extremadura and Galicia, as well as in areas of northern Portugal and the capital, Lisbon.

Dozens of people were able to record the phenomenon with their cell phones and share it on social networks.

The Calar Alto Observatory, in Gérgal (Almería), has been one of the scientific facilities that has recorded the “enormous fireball” that crossed the skies of both countries around 00:46 hours. The ball “turned night into day for an instant,” wrote Professor JMM, who works at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia IAA-CSIC and is principal investigator of the Smart project, in his preliminary analysis.

According to this astrophysicist, the bolide was a rock that had broken off from a comet, and that entered the atmosphere at a speed of 161,000 kilometers per hour and that drew an almost level trajectory, with an inclination of only about ten degrees with respect to the horizontal.

JMM explained that when the rock crossed the atmosphere, and became scientifically called a meteoroid, its surface heated up upon contact with the air and became incandescent. “And it was that incandescence that could be seen in the form of a fireball that began at an altitude of about 122 km above Spain.

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[Meatpie]

Oh wooww, thanks for this impressive speed and colour!

 

[metalmachine]

Unfortunately I haven't seen it. At that time he was in bed with the blinds drawn watching a series. I found out this morning by social networks

 

[Meatpie]

Better luck next time I guess. It's quite a spectacle and the colour this one gave off is unreal.

BTW I too missed the aurora last week.

 

[serrth]

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A large blue fireball has crossed the Iberian Peninsula on the night of Saturday to Sunday, being sighted both in Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, the Community of Madrid, Extremadura and Galicia, as well as in areas of northern Portugal and the capital, Lisbon.

Dozens of people were able to record the phenomenon with their cell phones and share it on social networks.

The Calar Alto Observatory, in Gérgal (Almería), has been one of the scientific facilities that has recorded the “enormous fireball” that crossed the skies of both countries around 00:46 hours. The ball “turned night into day for an instant,” wrote Professor JMM, who works at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia IAA-CSIC and is principal investigator of the Smart project, in his preliminary analysis.

According to this astrophysicist, the bolide was a rock that had broken off from a comet, and that entered the atmosphere at a speed of 161,000 kilometers per hour and that drew an almost level trajectory, with an inclination of only about ten degrees with respect to the horizontal.

JMM explained that when the rock crossed the atmosphere, and became scientifically called a meteoroid, its surface heated up upon contact with the air and became incandescent. “And it was that incandescence that could be seen in the form of a fireball that began at an altitude of about 122 km above Spain.

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I want to experience earthquakes, volcanoes and tornadoes and now after seeing this, I want to experience an asteroid. It is important to me.