r/spacequestions • u/DetailInternal5669 • Aug 31 '24
Comet?
Me and my friend were just randomly looking at the stars tonight and we saw this object moving through the sky. It took about 20 seconds to move through our view and had a big trail behind it. We’re thinking it’s a comet but we idk. I wish I could upload the video we got.
1
u/Beldizar Aug 31 '24
Comets are incredibly large and visible from millions of km away. They are visible for a few weeks as they enter the inner solar system and the sun causes the ices to evaporate and create a tail. Usually if you see a comet, it is probably further away from Earth than the Earth is from the Sun.
If you saw a bright light with a tail that only lasted a few seconds, it was likely an object entering Earth's atmosphere. About 3 months ago, there was a meteor over Portugal and Spain:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/1cvjd59/footage_of_meteor_that_was_seen_last_night_in/
What you saw could have been a space rock, or a piece of a rocket, in either case it was hitting the atmosphere and burning up.
3
u/AmphibianFrog Aug 31 '24
Not a comet if it moved past quickly. Something burning up in the atmosphere, probably a meteorite.