Blazing blue meteor streaks across sky, dazzles onlookers in Portugal

Lisbon: A dazzling azure meteor was spotted in the skies above Portugal on the evening of May 18, 2024.

A May 19 article on Publico wrote that the reported sightings were mostly concentrated in the north of Portugal, while some came from the south as well.

Videos of the meteor were posted by MeteoTrasMontPT on X (formerly known as Twitter). The account, according to its biography, is dedicated to posting meteorological phenomena in Portugal.

One video shows a woman walking as the meteorite falls above her. The caption claims that this was sighted in Porto, Portugal:

Another video posted to the same account was also apparently recorded in the same location. A sudden bright blue flash lit up the area, presumably as the meteorite shoots across the sky:

Publico reported that authorities have yet to confirm if the meteor had landed anywhere.

There was speculation that it landed somewhere in Serra do Montemuro in Portugal, but authorities have not found anything at the location.

According to NASA, when an object falls into the Earth’s atmosphere, it can blaze due to friction, pressure and chemical reactions with atmospheric gases. In doing so, it becomes a meteor.

We sometimes call these bright fireballs “shooting stars” or “falling stars”. The particularly bright and large ones are called “bolides”.

Meteors typically form from debris falling from comets, meteoroids or asteroids.

Meteoroids are rocks still in space. When they enter the earth’s atmosphere and burn up, they are called meteors. Meteors that hit the ground are called meteorites.