Fireball, 15 December 2000
On 15 December 2000 at 03:46 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 50.4°N, 58.9°E. It released energy equal to about 0.095 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 15 December 2000, 03:46
- Location
- 50.4°N, 58.9°E
- Height at peak brightness
- Not released
- Speed
- Not released
- Light energy radiated
- 2.7 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.095 kilotons of TNT
What does that mean?
That is a small burst by fireball standards: the Chelyabinsk fireball of 2013 released about 440 kilotons. If the object was stony rock entering at a typical 20 km/s, it was roughly 1.1 metres across and weighed around 2 tonnes.
Most objects of this kind break up and burn away high in the atmosphere, but larger ones can drop small meteorites. About 70% of Earth is ocean, so most fireballs like this fall into the sea.
Known meteorites nearest this point
- Karagai L6, Russia · 106 km away
- Ilinskaya Stanitza Iron, IIIAB, Russia · 141 km away
- Brient Eucrite-pmict, Russia · 195 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.