Meteor explodes after 500 kms across Spain and Portugal in flames

Hundreds witness ‘extraordinary passage’ that lit up midnight skies

Hundreds of people in Portugal (as well as many others in France and Spain) witnessed the awe-inspiring passage of a meteor through the earth’s atmosphere on Saturday night.

Initial reports suggest debris had fallen in Castro Daire (in far north Viseu district), but this doesn’t appear to be the case.

According to experts, the meteor essentially burned up along its path from north of Mérida, in southeast Spain, to the Atlantic Ocean northwest of Porto – and whatever was left of it will have fallen into the sea.

Castro Daire firefighters did set out in the early hours to see if there were any signs of the meteor having hit local territory, but nothing was found.

The moment many say they will “never forget” happened just before midnight, and lasted only seconds: some people were “terrified”; others thought it was a potential missile attack – and there were those who say it was “the best moment” of their lives.

Reports describe dogs being ‘very agitated’ by the phenomenon, which has since been ‘tracked’ by various means to give these details:

The meteor was travelling at a speed of 45kms per second; it will have begun little more than 20-30cms in size, it entered the earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 122 kms, travelling downwards all the way to the northwest of Portugal until it ‘hit the sea’.

Fears by some that it could have triggered a tsunami were unfounded, as by the time the meteor made contact with the earth’s surface, it will have been no more than ‘little fragments’ of rock.

The ‘blue colour’ of the flash of light that people saw suggest the rock was magnesium.

Physicist Carlos Fiolhais writing today in popular tabloid Correio da Manhã adds that every day meteors fall throughout the world (during daylight hours, no one even notices). “The sky can bring surprises – but there is no need for fear. When something falls, the atmosphere is a great protector”.

See below some impressive video clips of the moment the meteor passed over Portugal shared on @MeteoTrasMontPT social media page

Tires, Cascais ☄️ pic.twitter.com/SK5jrFJ2Hw
— Márcio Santos – Meteorologia e Ambiente (@MeteoTrasMontPT) May 19, 2024

Mais um registo incrível!
☄️ pic.twitter.com/1bbsWHAQr8
— Márcio Santos – Meteorologia e Ambiente (@MeteoTrasMontPT) May 18, 2024

Primeiras imagens em exclusivo do clarão de há instantes! ☄️
Possível meteorito ou bólide!
©️Miguel Gata pic.twitter.com/PT6oT0YS3r
— Márcio Santos – Meteorologia e Ambiente (@MeteoTrasMontPT) May 18, 2024