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Bright meteor fireball observed over southern Spain and Portugal

361 views · Published 23 February 2016 · 2:15 · Indexed 23 October 2026

Channel: Healing Frequencies · 2016 · Entertainment

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Bright meteor fireball observed over southern Spain and Portugal.

Amazing fireball observed over the South of Spain and Portugal on 21 Feb. 2016, at 2h42m UT. The event was produced by a meteoroid that impacted the atmosphere at about 120.000 km/h. It started at an altitude of about 100 km and ended at a height of about 42 km. The event was recorded by the meteor recording stations that the University of Huelva operates at the astronomical observatories located at La Hita (Toledo), Sevilla and Huelva. 

On Feb. 6, 2016, around 14:00 UTC, a tiny chunk of interplanetary material plunged into Earth's atmosphere and burned up — likely exploding — about 30 kilometers above the Atlantic Ocean. The energy released was equivalent to the detonation of 13,000 tons of TNT, making this the largest such event since the (much larger) Chelyabinsk blast in February 2013. 

OK, so first, off: Don't panic! As impacts go, this was pretty small*. After all, you didn't even hear about until weeks after it occurred. Events this size aren't too big a concern. Had it happened over a populated area it would've rattled some windows and probably terrified a lot of people, but I don't think it would've done any real damage. 

For comparison, the Chelyabinsk explosion, which was strong enough to shatter windows and injure over 1000 people (due to flying glass), had an equivalent yield of 500,000 tons of TNT, 40 times the energy of this more recent impact. 

The event was reported on the NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Fireball page, which lists some of the brightest such things.

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