Video: Intensely bright fireball crossing Morocco spotted from many parts of southern Spain

A bright fireball was seen over Malaga, Granada, Almeria and other parts of Andalucía on Saturday night, 18 October. It originated as a rock from an asteroid that entered the atmosphere at 67,000 kilometres per hour. The interesting thing is that, although the fireball appeared to pass through the Andalusian sky, it was actually located more than 600 kilometres away.

According to Professor José María Madiedo of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), the ball actually crossed Morocco, but its great luminosity made it visible from Andalucía. In fact, most of the reports came from people in Malaga, Granada and Almeria. "It was also widely seen from Morocco," Madiedo said. The phenomenon was detected by the Smart project.

"These rocks entering our atmosphere at high speed are called 'meteoroids'. When it hit the air so suddenly, its surface heated up and became incandescent, generating a fireball that started at an altitude of about 82 kilometres over Douar Fej Ennassar (northern Morocco). From there, it moved to the north-west and ended at an altitude of about 38 kilometres over Douar Leqloue," the researcher's report stated.

A similar fireball was detected over Spain and Portugal on 15 October. It flew over the north of the Iberian Peninsula, but could also be seen from southern Spain.