Fireball plummets to Earth 'without warning'

Dean Murray & Steven Smith

20 May 2024 at 7:28 am·1-min read

The small piece of a comet entering the atmosphere as a green fireball/meteor over Spain and Portugal -Credit:ESA/PDO/AMS82/AllSky7/SWNS

A bright green fireball was spotted plummeting to Earth on Saturday. The European Space Agency (ESA) reported the meteor was travelling at around 100,662 mph when it was seen over Spain and Portugal at 10.46pm local time.

ESA also admitted they were unaware of the space rock until it entered the planet's atmosphere. They reported: "ESA’s fireball camera in Cáceres, Spain, spotted this stunning meteor last night!

"Our Planetary Defence Office are currently analysing the size and trajectory of the object to assess the chance that any material made it to the surface. It was definitely not tracked or reported prior to impact. We are currently checking whether there is any 'precovery' information (i.e. if we can find it in any existing data retrospectively).

"It appears that this object was a small piece of a comet. We estimate that it flew over Spain and Portugal travelling at ~45 km/s before burning up over the Atlantic Ocean at an altitude of ~60 km. The likelihood of any meteorites being found is very low."

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