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The sky of Madrid had a special scene on Wednesday night. A great ball of fire flew over the city causing an effect that could be observed from all over Spain. This fact was produced by the impact against the atmosphere of a rock from an asteroid.

This phenomenon took place at 3.56 hours (peninsular time) and caused great luminosity in the middle of the Spanish morning. The rock entered the atmosphere at about 126,000 kilometers per hour, as detailed by the Madrid Planetarium.

This phenomenon was captured by the detectors of the astronomical complex of La Hita, in La Puebla de Almoradiel (Toledo), within the framework of the Smart project, which aims to continuously monitor the sky in order to record and study the impact against the Earth’s atmosphere of rocks from different objects in the Solar System, as detailed by Globe live media.

In addition, it was recorded by the detectors that this same research project has installed in the observatories of Calar Alto (Almería), La Sagra (Granada) and Seville, the astronomical complex of La Hita has reported in a press release.

It could be seen from more than 600 km away

The Madrid Planetarium has clarified that there is no reason to “worry” for this singular event, since it was nothing more than a phenomenon that responds to a rock from an asteroid. Globe live media explains that the abrupt friction with the air caused the rock to turn incandescent at a height of about 84 kilometers, almost on the border with the province of Ávila.

This episode caused an enormous luminosity that allowed it to be appreciated from more than 600 kilometers away. The fireball advanced in a southeast direction and it became extinct over the city of Madrid, at an altitude of about 21 kilometers, practically on the vertical of the Puente de Vallecas district, according to the La Hita astronomical complex.

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