WATCH: A brilliant fireball lit up the Andalusian sky

It entered the atmosphere at a speed of about 85,000 kilometres per hour

Málaga

22/05/2026 a las 11:59h.

A bright fireball shot across the Andalusian sky on Thursday night. The phenomenon was recorded at 10.27pm (local time) and was observed by several ... witnesses who reported the sighting on social networks.

Astrophysicist José María Madiedo from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucia (IAA-CSIC), has analysed the event. According to Madiedo, it took place when a rock entered the atmosphere at a speed of about 85,000 kilometres per hour.

It came from a comet and the sudden friction with the Earth's atmosphere at intense speed caused the rock's surface to heat up to a temperature of several thousand degrees celsius and become incandescent, generating a fireball that started at an altitude of about 89 kilometres above Zocueca, in the province of Jaén.

From there it moved northwest and extinguished at an altitude of about 42 kilometres over Adamuz, Cordoba. The fireball travelled a total distance in the atmosphere of about 72 kilometres.

This fireball has been observed by the SMART project systems from the detection stations located in Huelva, La Hita (Toledo), Calar Alto (Almería), Sierra Nevada, La Sagra (Granada), Seville, Otura (Granada) and Mazagón (Huelva).

SMART is a project of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) that develops the Southwest European Meteor and Bolide Network (SWEMN).