A fireball crosses the sky of the Balearic Islands

PalmReentry into the atmosphere of the fourth stage of the rocket Jielong-3, launched by China on August 8, generated a striking luminous phenomenon this Sunday, visible from various points in the Balearic Islands, Almería, Granada, Murcia, and Alicante, as confirmed by the Fireball and Meteorite Research Network (SPMN).

The episode occurred a few minutes before midnight, when numerous witnesses observed several fireballs that crossed the sky for several seconds, leaving a long trail behind them. According to the SPMN, these types of reentries and fragmentations of space artifacts can last for minutes and describe wide, low trajectories, with multiple visible pieces. In this case, it was space debris from a recent launch, a remnant that had fulfilled its purpose and remained in orbit until its reentry into the atmosphere.

According to the Calar Alto Astronomical Observatory, located in the Almería mountains of Los Filabres, in the municipality of Gérgal, on the social network X, the object entered the Atlantic at an altitude of 118 kilometers, traveled more than 900 kilometers and reached a speed of approximately 29,000 kilometers. The organization has recalled that these types of episodes are being recorded with increasing frequency, as occurred at the end of March with the re-entry of a Falcon 9 from SpaceX that left a luminous spiral in the sky.