How I Watched a Meteor Streak Across Portugal’s Night Sky

A giant fireball dashed over my house in Northern Portugal in a scene that looked like something out of a movie

Rui Alves
4 min readMay 19, 2024
A neon green metero looking like a laser beam.
Still image of the meteor seen on the Portuguese night sky on May 18th, 2024 | Source: YouTube (edited by the author)

Today was a day to remember and a night full of wonder here in northern Portugal.

I spent the afternoon with my fiancee at a party celebrating with family and friends. We had a great time, and the menu was a delight for our taste buds.

It had been raining all week, and I hoped the sun would return soon. After all, it can’t rain all the time.

Photo by the author’s fiancée

It was already late in the evening when we arrived home. We could see the stars, as the skies had cleared after yet another rainy day here in the Porto district. But the day hadn’t ended and the Cosmos plotted a marvelous finale in store for us.

I was with my girlfriend, and we were enjoying the balcony view when suddenly the night sky exploded as if it was daylight.

A giant fireball dashed over our heads and onto the horizon.

To my sci-fi fan eyes, it was as if a laser beam had just been fired from a…

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Rui Alves

Language teacher, linguist, life coach, published author (joined the Army and worked for the EU). A publisher, digital ronin, musician and alchemist of sound.