Europe: Spain and Portugal witness comet fragment lighting up sky

The celestial object was spotted speeding across the sky, travelling at 1,700 mph.

A stunning meteor streaked across the heavens over Portugal and Spain Saturday night, startling millions with a blue-green fireball that illuminated the night sky.

The celestial object was spotted speeding across the sky, illuminating the clouds in a dazzling neon blue for roughly 7 seconds.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the meteor seemed to be a piece of a comet that had broken off and skipped over Earth's atmosphere at a height of 35 miles. It was travelling at an impressive 1,700 mph.

Authorities received reports of an object falling from the sky in Viseu but were unable to pinpoint a likely crash site or determine whether any of the meteors struck the ground, according to Portuguese newspaper Publico.

Viseu is located in central Portugal, approximately 200 miles north of the country's capital, Lisbon.

According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, astronomer Josep María Trigo estimated the meteor's diameter to be between 8 and 12 inches. According to the ESA, it is doubtful that any bits of the meteor will reach Earth.

According to NASA, if a meteoroid strikes Earth's atmosphere "or that of another planet, like Mars," it accelerates significantly and begins to burn up, appearing as a fireball.

Meteorites are bits of space rocks moving throughout the universe that can occasionally pass through the Earth's atmosphere and hit the planet's surface.

The majority of meteorites come from asteroids, which are rocky things in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but some also come from comets.

The ESA believes the object spotted above Spain was a comet fragment.

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