Fireball, 1 October 2016
On 1 October 2016 at 20:23 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 36.2°N, 6.7°E, 27.8 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.11 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 1 October 2016, 20:23
- Location
- 36.2°N, 6.7°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 27.8 km
- Speed
- 14.2 km/s (51,120 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 3.15 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.11 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 1.4 metres across and weighed around 4.6 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
- Tadjera L5, Algeria · 115 km away
- Feid Chair H4, Tunisia · 174 km away
- Dahmani LL6, Tunisia · 203 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.