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© Shutterstock/Triff
The stunning fireball in this video was recorded over Spain on 2024 February 18, at 23:08 local time (equivalent to 22:08 universal time). It was almost as bright as the full Moon. The fireball was observed by a wide number of casual eyewitnesses, who reported it on social networks.

The event was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from an asteroid that hit the atmosphere at about 54,000 km/h. The fireball overflew the province of A Coruña (region of Galicia, northwest of Spain). It began at an altitude of about 89 km over the locality of Teixeiro (province of A Coruña), moved northwest, and ended at a height of around 25 km over the locality of A Torre de San Bartolomeu (province of A Coruña).

The preliminary analysis of this event shows that the rock was not fully destroyed: a small part of the meteoroid could have survived and reach the ground as a meteorite.

This bright meteor was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN) from the meteor-observing stations located at La Hita (Toledo), and Coruña. The event has been analyzed by the team headed by Dr. Jose M. Madiedo (principal investigator of the SMART project), from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).