Fireball, 12 December 2008
On 12 December 2008 at 11:36 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 7.0°S, 9.7°W, 50 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.6 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 12 December 2008, 11:36
- Location
- 7.0°S, 9.7°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 50 km
- Speed
- Not released
- Light energy radiated
- 21.6 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.6 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 2 metres across and weighed around 13 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.