Fireball, 1 July 2008
On 1 July 2008 at 17:40 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 37.1°N, 115.7°W, 36.1 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.12 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 1 July 2008, 17:40
- Location
- 37.1°N, 115.7°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 36.1 km
- Speed
- 9.8 km/s (35,280 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 3.6 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.12 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 this speed, it was roughly 1.9 metres across and weighed around 10 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
- Coyote Spring H5, United States · 64 km away
- Starvation Flat L5, United States · 75 km away
- Quartz Mountain Iron, IIIAB, United States · 89 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.