Fireball, 15 February 2013
On 15 February 2013 at 03:20 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 54.8°N, 61.1°E, 23.3 km up. It released energy equal to about 440 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 15 February 2013, 03:20
- Location
- 54.8°N, 61.1°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 23.3 km
- Speed
- 18.6 km/s (66,960 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 37500 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 441 kilotons of TNT
What does that mean?
That is about 29 times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb (about 15 kilotons), released harmlessly high in the atmosphere. If the object was stony rock entering at this speed, it was roughly 19 metres across and weighed around 10670 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.
Known meteorites nearest this point
- Chelyabinsk LL5, Russia · 2 km away
- Ozernoe L6, Russia · 109 km away
- Kunashak L6, Russia · 111 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.