Fireball, 21 April 2015
On 21 April 2015 at 01:42 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 37.7°N, 39.6°W, 37.4 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.27 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 21 April 2015, 01:42
- Location
- 37.7°N, 39.6°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 37.4 km
- Speed
- 21.3 km/s (76,680 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 8.8 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.27 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 1.5 metres across and weighed around 5 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.