Fireball, 9 January 2015
On 9 January 2015 at 10:41 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 2.0°N, 28.8°E, 36 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.41 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 9 January 2015, 10:41
- Location
- 2.0°N, 28.8°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 36 km
- Speed
- 17.5 km/s (63,000 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 14 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.41 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 1.9 metres across and weighed around 11 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
- Essebi C2-ung, Uganda · 246 km away
- Maridi H6, South Sudan · 301 km away
- Hoima H6, Uganda · 306 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.