Internet and social media users were stunned by the footage of a blue fireball captured from several cities across Spain and Portugal.
Bright Comet Fragment
At around 12:46 a.m. on May 19, cameras captured a spectacular sight: a blue-green fireball crossing the night sky. As one witness reported, the dazzling display "felt like a movie."
The European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed the cosmic event, which caught the fireball with its observatory in Cáceres, Spain, at 6:46 p.m. EDT on May 18. Although the fragment was described as a "stunning meteor," ESA confirmed that the blue fireball was a piece of a comet that traveled around 100,00 miles per hour (160,934 kilometers per hour). This speed is about 65 times faster than the top speed of a Lockheed Martin F-16 jet fighter. The agency added that the fragment likely burned up over the Atlantic Ocean at 38 miles (60 kilometers) over Earth.
On its X feed, ESA wrote that its Planetary Defence Office is currently analyzing the size and trajectory of celestial objects to see if any of their material made it to the surface. Meanwhile, news and media organization Nova Portugal also shared video clips of the blue fireball from different locations.
Nature and Composition of Shooting Stars
"Shooting stars" like the one seen in Spain and Portugal are pieces of objects that break away from larger cosmic bodies such as comets, asteroids, the moon, or even other planets. As they enter the atmosphere of the Earth at high speeds, the friction they encounter causes them to glow brightly. As a result, they become meteors for a few seconds as they travel through the atmosphere and create a glowing trail.
Around 90 - 95% of interstellar objects that make their way to Earth this way do not survive long enough to reach the ground. If a meteoroid does, it is usually in the form of dust or tiny particles called meteorites.
Just as various chemical elements are used to create fireworks of different colors, the color of the fireball also says something about its chemical composition. For instance, the bright blue or green flash of light indicates the burning of magnesium. In fact, there is a type of meteorite called pallasites, which bear magnesium and contain large olive-green crystals called olivine.
The origins of pallasites remain mysterious, but experts believe that they are formed when asteroids melt, with denser materials sinking to their cores. They could also come from the boundaries between an asteroid's metallic core and its silicate mantle rich in olivine. If this is the case, pallasites can play an important role in teaching scientists about the formation of rocky planets in the Solar System 4.5 billion years ago.
It is still not yet confirmed whether the meteorite seen in Spain and Portugal is a pallasite or if any of it has reached the ground.
Check out more news and information on Fireball in Science Times.
