A meteorite that residents described as a ”huge ball of fire” was spotted on Wednesday over the eastern Spanish regions of Catalonia and Valencia, according to astronomers in the region.
”We received scores of calls from witnesses, who at first thought it was an asteroid flashing past. But judging from its size, it was a meteorite,” said a spokesperson for a Catalonia-based astronomers’ association.
Motorists spotted the glowing sphere from the motorway linking Spain with southern France and reported seeing it break up into fragments.
The meteorite glowed a greenish hue as it sped through the atmosphere on a northeast-southeast trajectory.
”That leads us to think it fell into the sea,” the spokesperson said.
The observatory at Valencia University said it estimates the celestial body was travelling at around 10 000kph when it entered the atmosphere. — Sapa-AFP