A stunning meteor streaked across the skies of Portugal and Spain on Saturday night, dazzling millions of people with a blue-green fireball that lit up the night sky.
The celestial body was seen streaming through the atmosphere, lighting up the clouds in a bright neon blue color for about 7 seconds.
The European Space Agency said the meteorite appeared to be a piece of a comet that broke off and jumped through the Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of about 35 miles.
It was traveling at an astonishing speed of 1,700 miles per hour.
Authorities received reports of an object falling from the sky in Viseu, but were unable to identify a possible crash site or determine whether any of the meteorite had fallen to Earth, according to the Portuguese newspaper. Publico.
Viseu is located in central Portugal, about 200 miles north of the country’s capital, Lisbon.
Astronomer Josep Maria Trejo said the meteorite’s diameter was likely between 8 to 12 inches Spanish newspaper El Pais.
Portugal’s Civil Protection Agency posted online a story about a “meteorite falling” in the Castro Dire area, but the outlet reported that the statement was later retracted.
The European Space Agency said it was unlikely that any piece of the meteorite would reach Earth.
One video, which appears to have been recorded from the driver’s dash cam subscriber On the X, it showed a clear view of glowing blue light streaming across the sky.
Another clip shows a woman walking with her camera pointed at the sky when the sky around her lights up blue, causing her to stop in her tracks.
the third video A crowd of people with a clear view of the suspected meteorite were caught in complete disbelief, as there were a series of blue flies above their heads.
If a meteorite enters the Earth’s atmosphere (or the atmosphere of another planet, such as Mars), it gains a great deal of speed and begins to burn, appearing in the form of a fireball, according to the American “space” website. NASA.
Meteorites are fragments of space rocks that wander around the universe and can sometimes pass through the Earth’s atmosphere and strike the planet’s surface.
Most meteorites originate from asteroids, which are rocky bodies located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, while others can come from comets.
The European Space Agency said the object seen over Spain was likely part of a comet.
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