Fireball, 21 February 2011
On 21 February 2011 at 05:07 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 26.3°N, 43.7°E, 44.4 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.14 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 21 February 2011, 05:07
- Location
- 26.3°N, 43.7°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 44.4 km
- Speed
- 18 km/s (64,800 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 4.18 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.14 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 1.3 metres across and weighed around 3.6 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
- Al Rais CR2-an, Saudi Arabia · 470 km away
- Ur Iron, Iraq · 559 km away
- Yabrin 003 Acapulcoite, Saudi Arabia · 598 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.