Fireball, 4 October 2017
On 4 October 2017 at 12:07 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 28.1°N, 99.4°E, 37 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.34 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 4 October 2017, 12:07
- Location
- 28.1°N, 99.4°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 37 km
- Speed
- 14.6 km/s (52,560 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 11.5 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.34 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
- Mahadevpur H4/5, India · 359 km away
- Leshan Iron, IIE, China · 451 km away
- Lunan H6, China · 534 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.