ESA’s fireball camera in Cáceres, Spain, captured this stunning meteor during the night of 18—19 May 2024 (00:46 CEST 19 May / 22:46 UTC 18 May).
The camera is operated by ESA’s Planetary Defence Office and is part of the AllSky7 fireball network.
ESA’s planetary defenders began investigating the impact shortly after it was first reported. Their analysis of the object’s trajectory has revealed that it is likely to have been a small piece of a comet.
They estimate that it flew over Spain and Portugal travelling at roughly 45 km/s (162 000 km/h) before burning up over the Atlantic Ocean at an altitude of approximately 60 km.
Using data on the amount of energy released during the impact, they estimate that the object was roughly 1 m in size and had a mass of 500—1000 kg.
The likelihood of any meteorites from this even being discovered is very low.
The object was not detected before impact. This is likely because it approached Earth from a region of the sky that is particularly crowded with stars of the Milky Way galaxy.
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