Fireball, 28 November 2019
On 28 November 2019 at 20:30 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 35.7°N, 31.7°W, 35 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.1 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 28 November 2019, 20:30
- Location
- 35.7°N, 31.7°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 35 km
- Speed
- 13 km/s (46,800 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 2.99 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.1 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 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.
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.