Rabat – An observatory at a Spanish university recorded a meteor flying over the sky of Morocco at dawn on Sunday, April 14. The Spanish University of Huelva video-taped the meteor crossing the Mediterranean at a speed of between 40,000 to 65,000 kilometers per hour.
Detectors set up by the SMART project (Spectroscopy of Meteoroids in the Atmosphere with Robotic Technologies) that captured the fireball.
Observers could see the meteor as far as 500 kilometers away.
Astrophysicist Jose Maria Madiedo, professor at the University of Huelva, told Morocco World News, “The event began at an altitude of about 84 km above the sea, in front of the coast of Morocco. From that point it moved northeastward, and finished at an altitude of 31 km over the sea, at a distance of about 25 km from the coast of your country [Morocco].”
Sucedió a las 3:00 de esta madrugada (14 de abril). La imagen muestra la trayectoria que siguió la bola de fuego. @EFEciencia @abcdesevilla@elCorreoWeb @malagahoy_es @opiniondemalaga @DiarioSUR @elsegundoluz @AstroHita @ideal_granada @miangulo_95 pic.twitter.com/93U6ONm3N2
— Jose Maria Madiedo (@jmmadiedo) April 14, 2019
The meteor disappeared into the Mediterranean in the Strait of Gibraltar, but nearer to Morocco than Spain. The fireball, Madiedo added, was produced by a rock fragment of an asteroid.
The high speed at which the meteor hurtled through the air caused its temperature to rise to 4,000 degrees Celsius, turning it into a fireball, Madiedo told MWN.
It is likely that small fragments of the fireball, weighing between 10 and 25 grams, have survived.
Another fireball crossed the sky over the Spanish city of Caceres early on Friday, April 12, at a faster speed at 65,000 kilometers per hour, only to fly apart 35 kilometers above Avila, northeast of Madrid, the same observatory said.
