Fireball, 18 February 2019
On 18 February 2019 at 10:00 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 15.5°S, 25.3°E, 26 km up. It released energy equal to about 4.3 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 18 February 2019, 10:00
- Location
- 15.5°S, 25.3°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 26 km
- Speed
- 20.8 km/s (74,880 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 199 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 4.3 kilotons of TNT
What does that mean?
That is a large 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 3.8 metres across and weighed around 83 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
- Monze L6, Zambia · 225 km away
- Mafuta Iron, IID, Zimbabwe · 567 km away
- Matsitama H4/5, Botswana · 634 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.