Fireball, 5 September 2017
On 5 September 2017 at 05:11 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 49.3°N, 116.9°W, 36 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.14 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 5 September 2017, 05:11
- Location
- 49.3°N, 116.9°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 36 km
- Speed
- 14.7 km/s (52,920 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 4.09 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.14 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 5.4 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
- Beaver Creek H5, Canada · 210 km away
- Millarville Iron, IVA, Canada · 249 km away
- Revelstoke CI1, Canada · 269 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.