Fireball, 19 December 2011
On 19 December 2011 at 11:35 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 30.2°S, 52.6°E, 36.1 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.43 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 19 December 2011, 11:35
- Location
- 30.2°S, 52.6°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 36.1 km
- Speed
- Not released
- Light energy radiated
- 14.7 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.43 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 1.8 metres across and weighed around 9 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.