Fireball, 7 October 2008
On 7 October 2008 at 02:45 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 20.9°N, 31.4°E, 38.9 km up. It released energy equal to about 1 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 7 October 2008, 02:45
- Location
- 20.9°N, 31.4°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 38.9 km
- Speed
- 13.3 km/s (47,880 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 39.5 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 1 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 3.1 metres across and weighed around 47 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
- Almahata Sitta Ureilite-an, Sudan · 107 km away
- Aswan Iron, IAB-ung, Egypt · 365 km away
- Isna CO3.8, Egypt · 438 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.