Fireball, 28 January 2006
On 28 January 2006 at 03:33 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 51.7°S, 56.4°E, 37 km up. It released energy equal to about 1.8 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 28 January 2006, 03:33
- Location
- 51.7°S, 56.4°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 37 km
- Speed
- 18.7 km/s (67,320 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 74 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 1.8 kilotons of TNT
What does that mean?
That is a large burst by fireball standards: the Chelyabinsk fireball of 2013 released about 440 kilotons. If the object was stony rock entering at this speed, it was roughly 3 metres across and weighed around 43 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.
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.