Fireball, 23 December 2016
On 23 December 2016 at 03:29 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 21.3°N, 49.3°E, 42 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.15 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 23 December 2016, 03:29
- Location
- 21.3°N, 49.3°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 42 km
- Speed
- 29.7 km/s (106,920 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 4.42 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.15 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 97 cm across and weighed around 1.4 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
- ash-Shalfah L4, Saudi Arabia · 77 km away
- Wabar Iron, IIIAB, Saudi Arabia · 123 km away
- Um Habib L6, Saudi Arabia · 126 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.