A bright comet fragment lit up the skies over parts of Spain and Portugal late on Saturday, according to the European Space Agency (ESA), with one Lisbon resident saying the dazzling display \u201cfelt like a movie\u201d.
\nOn Sunday morning, the ESA shared on X a video captured by its \u201cfireball camera\u201d of what it described as a \u201cstunning meteor\u201d over the skies of the western Spanish city of Caceres, near the Portuguese border.
\nBut it later said it appeared to be a \u201csmall piece of a comet\u201d and not a meteor, estimating it flew over Spain and Portugal at a speed of 45 km (28 miles) per second before burning up over the Atlantic.
\n\u201cThe likelihood of any meteorites being found is very low,\u201d the ESA said.
\nIn both countries, videos shot in several cities and towns went viral on social media, showing the object crossing the night sky at high speed and illuminating it in bright tones of blue and green.
\nThe Spanish Calar Alto astronomical observatory also said a preliminary analysis by Andalusia\u2019s Institute of Astrophysics revealed the object had a \u201ccometary origin\u201d.
\nDuring a concert in the Portuguese city of Barcelos, the object was filmed streaking across the sky as the singer performed. Another video showed the skies of Porto, Portugal\u2019s second biggest city, turning bright for a few seconds.
\nMany contacted emergency services to report what happened. A spokesperson for the Spanish Emergency service 112, in Madrid, told Europa Press news agency it had received several calls.
\nLisbon resident Bernardo Taborda, 31, told Reuters he was walking around the city with friends when the sky suddenly turned bright green: \u201cIt almost looked like daylight \u2026 we all looked back and saw it.\u201d
\n\u201cIt felt like a movie, we all looked at each other and we were stunned,\u201d Taborda said. \u201cIt was amazing.\u201d
\n(Reuters)Comet fragment. bright comet fragment, skies, dazzling display<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A bright comet fragment lit up the skies over parts of Spain and Portugal, with the European Space Agency confirming it was a small piece of a comet flying over the countries at a speed of 45 km per second before burning up over the Atlantic. The likelihood of finding any meteorites from the event is very low. Videos of the bright object streaking across the sky went viral on social media, with reports of the event prompting calls to emergency services in both countries. Lisbon resident Bernardo Taborda described the dazzling display as feeling like a movie and amazing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6393,7129,10537,10536,1173,10539,6117,7716,2952,3331,1668,610,4620,4441,1806,7608,10538,817,335,586,6413,2389,18],"class_list":["post-12393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-analysis","tag-border","tag-bright-comet-fragment","tag-comet-fragments","tag-concert","tag-dazzling-display","tag-event","tag-friends","tag-media","tag-news","tag-porto","tag-portugal","tag-report","tag-service","tag-services","tag-shot","tag-skies","tag-social-media","tag-space","tag-spain","tag-speed","tag-video","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n