2023-08-21 16:47:15
HUELVA, Spain – The detectors of the SMART project, of the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) in Spain, from the astronomical observatories of Huelva, Seville, Sierra Nevada and La Sagra (Granada), Calar Alto (Almería) and La Hita (Toledo) have recorded the passage of a fireball over Morocco at 37,000 mph.
According to the analysis carried out by the astrophysicist José María Madiedo, a researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), in southern Spain, and director of the SMART project, this fireball was recorded at 3:56 am on Sunday. and “it came to have a luminosity greater than that of the full Moon”, which motivated “numerous people” to be able to observe the phenomenon from Spain, echoing it on social networks.
Calculations by Madiedo show that the rock that caused this phenomenon came from an asteroid and entered Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of regarding 37,000 mph.
The violent friction with the Earth’s atmosphere at this enormous speed caused the surface of the rock (the meteoroid) to heat up to a temperature of several thousand degrees Celsius and become incandescent, thus generating a fireball that started at an altitude of regarding 60,000 mph over the town of Ibouhjarene.
From that position it advanced to the southeast and died out at an altitude of regarding 19,000 mph over the town of Beni Oukil.
It stood out for showing several explosions along its trajectory, which were due to various sudden breaks in the rock, causing sudden increases in luminosity.
SMART is a project developed by the Southwest Europe Fireball and Meteor Network (SWEMN Network); It is a research network coordinated by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).
The SWEMN Network aims to continuously monitor the sky in order to record and study the impact once morest the Earth’s atmosphere of rocks from different objects in the Solar System.
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