--- title: "Girl Awestruck After Capturing Brilliant Blue Comet By Chance on Camera" description: "In Portugal, a comet shot through the sky and illuminated it turquoise — and one lucky girl captured the entire thing on camera." date: "2024-05-20" modified: "2024-05-20" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/brilliant-comet-video-portugal" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "asteroids" - "Comets" - "european space agency" --- # Girl Awestruck After Capturing Brilliant Blue Comet By Chance on Camera ![In Portugal, a comet shot through the sky and illuminated it turquoise — and one lucky girl captured the entire thing on camera.]() *\Image: @itsme\_urstruly via X / Futurism\* ## Shine Bright In Portugal, a comet shot through the sky and illuminated the whole sky turquoise — and one lucky girl captured the entire extravaganza on camera. Posted on [X-formerly-Twitter]() and [Instagram](), the stunning fireball footage from Portuguese content creator Milena Refacho has gone incredibly viral, with her original post garnering more than six million views as netizens marveled with her at the spectacle. https://www.twitter.com/milarefacho/status/1792212831355683076 In the video, the 19-year-old Refacho's friends can be heard exclaiming to the heavens — and, in one hilarious instance, to hell — in Portuguese at the surprise light show. Later, the [European Space Agency confirmed]() that a comet fragment had indeed paraded through the skies of Portugal and Spain, and that it appeared to have burnt up in the atmosphere, resulting in the fantastical blue-green explosion that lit up the sky at nearly midnight local time. It's unlikely that any of the fragments survived the fiery crash, the ESA added. ## Comet Conundrum While it's certainly not uncommon for such space projectiles to leave brilliant tails behind them as they burn up in our planet's atmosphere, this comet fragment's descent was extra-bright, [the *New York Times* explains](), because it was careening at around 100,000 miles per hour. That's twice the [average speed of a rocky asteroid](), which seems to have made it twice as bright, too. As the *NYT* adds in its write-up, the ice-rock composure of most comets suggests they were [born at the dawn of our Solar System](), which makes this one's incredible final display all the more special. In an interview with the newspaper, planetary astronomer Meg Schwamb of Queen's University in Belfast said that although there are "notable meteor showers throughout the year, which are the result of the Earth crossing debris clouds of specific comets," the brilliance of this comet may tell scientists something about its size. This chunk, Schwamb said, "is likely a bit bigger than a good fraction of the meteors we see during meteor showers, so this just made a bigger light show." "It’s an unexpected interplanetary fireworks show," the astronomer added. **More on hunks of space:** [*Giant Piece of Space Junk Crashes Down on Farm of Canadian, Who Intends to Sell It and Spend Money on Hockey Rink*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()