Massive meteorite seen over Antequera

A massive fireball streaked across the sky over Antequera, Malaga, and was seen as far as Huelva moving at 64,100 km/h on Wednesday, August 21.

10.33pm on Wednesday, terrifyingly big flashes from a meteorite were seen streaking towards Earth at an average of 64,100 km/h in the northwest. The light show only lasted 3 seconds, but it was long enough and bright enough to stop people in their tracks.

The meteoroid broke apart at a height of 30 kilometres over Andalusia, after becoming visible for the first time at 86 kilometres above the town of Brenes in Seville. There were many fragmentations seen during its flight. Its spectra was captured by one of the two cameras of the diffraction grating-equipped El Torcal observatory in Antequera.

Meteorite burned up in the atmosphere over Andalusia

On this occasion the flying space rock was not big enough to avoid burning up completely in the friction of entering the Earth’s atmosphere, but occasionally they are capable of reaching the surface. The biggest known meteorite impact on the continent of Europe was one that caused a crater with a diameter of about 52 kilometres. The impact that created the Siljan Ring (Sweden) occurred when a meteorite collided with the Earth’s surface during the Devonian period before land dinosaurs existed.

The last known meteorite impact to cause significant damage and injuries was the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor event in Russia, but there have been few others in Modern times.