INCREDIBLE footage captured a dazzling blue comet fly over the head of a young girl in Portugal.
The teen, who was in the “right place at the right time”, looks up in awe at the amazing display as it soars overhead.
The clip, shared on Twitter, shows her laughing and joking with friends outside in the dark.
She then jumps and looks at the sky in shock as it is turned a bright shining blue by the passing comet.
After it passes the girl turns back to the camera, her mouth hanging open in shock.
Her and her friends laugh and exclaim at the amazing natural sighting.
The giant meteor travelled at 1,700mph as it soared across parts of Spain and Portugal on Sunday evening.
The powerful beam shone a greenish-blue as it shot across the sky.
More footage from a dashcam camera in Portugal pictured it shooting above a motorway.
The fireball-shaped object flew over a row of cars as those inside the motor exclaimed in delight.
More video released by the European Space Agency (ESA) showed the object illuminating the sky over the western Spanish city of Caceres.
They said the rare display had been caused by a “stunning meteor”.
But later the ESA clarified it was a “small piece of a comet”.
It apparently burnt itself out over the Atlantic Ocean after soaring over western Europe.
Those who watched the girl’s amazing video shared their awe in the comments.
One wrote: “Talk about right place right time”.
Another said it looked like she was in a Sci-Fi movie, while someone else wrote: “seems the universe created her content”.
The bluish green colour in the comet is created by the magensium when it falls from the sky and burns, Nasa explained.
It comes after a mysterious blazing fireball lit up the sky in China before it shattered and disappeared.
Clips shot by people in Beijing showed the strange object falling from the night sky before breaking into smaller pieces.
Interestingly, a similar ball of fire was seen falling from the sky on the same night in the Gansu province – almost 1,000 miles away from Beijing.
The meteor-like object apparently travelled all the way from Gansu to the Chinese capital before it broke up and vanished in the night sky.
While some people said it was a celestial object that came from space, others speculated it could be part of the debris that fell from the International Space Station.
What’s the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here’s what you need to know, according to Nasa…
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vaporise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vaporise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However, rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vaporising)
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
