Fireball, 6 July 2010
On 6 July 2010 at 23:54 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 34.1°S, 174.5°W, 26 km up. It released energy equal to about 14 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 6 July 2010, 23:54
- Location
- 34.1°S, 174.5°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 26 km
- Speed
- 15.7 km/s (56,520 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 751 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 14 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 6.7 metres across and weighed around 480 tonnes.
It penetrated deep into the atmosphere, which makes it more likely that fragments reached the ground as 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.