Brilliant fireball streaks across the sky off the south coast of Spain at 88,000 kilometres per hour

A bright fireball was seen crossing the Mediterranean Sea off the south coast of Spain in a southerly direction on 15 September, leaving behind a trail of light. The celestial object was recorded by the Smart Project detectors in the Andlaucía region at Calar Alto (Almeria), Sierra Nevada, La Sagra (Granada), Otura (Granada), El Arenosillo (Huelva), La Hita (Toledo) and Seville.

The preliminary analysis of this event, recorded around 8.54pm UT, was done by Professor José María Madiedo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC), who established that it was a comet with an initial speed of 88,000 kilometres per hour and a starting altitude of 110 kilometres, which finally dropped to 67.