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.

Some reports stated that the meteor could be seen in Spain as well.

Videos posted to social media

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:

Brutal!!!!!!! ☄️

Conseguimos ver o meteoro a atravessar a atmosfera!

Porto, Portugal 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/2LsaZ4Tnfc

— Márcio Santos - Meteorologia e Ambiente (@MeteoTrasMontPT) May 18, 2024

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:

Porto ☄️ pic.twitter.com/TZuYuIgkSf

— Márcio Santos - Meteorologia e Ambiente (@MeteoTrasMontPT) May 18, 2024

This video, recorded from a vehicle's dashcam, shows the meteor streaking across the night sky:

JUST IN - Meteor flashes across night sky over Portugal pic.twitter.com/agjSG6fKiA

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) May 18, 2024

It is not clear if the meteor landed or burned up.

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.

How do meteors form?

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.

Top photo from TheInsiderPaper/X