Fireball, 8 April 2015
On 8 April 2015 at 04:06 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 20.4°S, 51.5°E, 36.3 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.57 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 8 April 2015, 04:06
- Location
- 20.4°S, 51.5°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 36.3 km
- Speed
- 19.2 km/s (69,120 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 20.6 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.57 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 2 metres across and weighed around 13 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
- Sainte Rose H3.6 · 444 km away
- Mauritius L6 · 576 km away
- Maromandia L6, Madagascar · 778 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.