Fireball, 29 December 2020
On 29 December 2020 at 20:32 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 14.9°N, 158.2°W, 33 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.3 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 29 December 2020, 20:32
- Location
- 14.9°N, 158.2°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 33 km
- Speed
- 14.4 km/s (51,840 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 9.99 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.3 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 12 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.