Meteor lights up Portugal and Spain
Late Saturday night (May 18th 2024), people in Spain and Portugal witnessed a brilliant blue-green fireball streaking across the sky. Videos of the meteor quickly went viral on social media.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has now confirmed that the meteor appears to be a small piece of an icy comet that impacted Earth’s atmosphere. In a statement, ESA said “It appears that this object was a small piece of a comet. We estimate that it flew over Spain and Portugal traveling at about 45 km/s before burning up over the Atlantic Ocean at an altitude of around 60 km.”
Many observers reported seeing the bright fireball to the International Meteor Organization. The Spanish Calar Alto Observatory also agreed that the “object had a cometary origin.”
The observatory calculated that the fireball first became visible at an altitude of 122 km as it burned up over Europe. It then lit up the sky for several seconds as it fragmented before finally burning out completely at an altitude of 54 km.
While some initial reports suggested part of the meteor may have reached the ground in Portugal, ESA states “the likelihood of any meteorites being found is very low.” The agency does not yet know which specific comet the piece originated from, but notes “it was definitely not tracked or reported prior to impact.”