fireball
This stunning superbolide was spotted over Spain on October 14, at 20:46 local time (equivalent to 18:46 universal time). It was brighter than 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 53,000 km/h. The fireball overflew the south of Spain. It began at an altitude of about 93 km over the Gulf of Cádiz, moved north, and ended at a height of around 18 km over the US Rota Naval Base (province of Cádiz).


The preliminary analysis of this event shows that the rock was not fully destroyed: a part of the meteoroid would have survived and reached 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 Huelva, La Hita, CAHA, OSN, La Sagra, and Sevilla. The event has been analyzed by the principal investigator of the SMART project: Dr. Jose M. Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).