Fireball, 5 March 2021
On 5 March 2021 at 13:50 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 81.1°S, 141.1°E, 32.5 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.13 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 5 March 2021, 13:50
- Location
- 81.1°S, 141.1°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 32.5 km
- Speed
- 23.3 km/s (83,880 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 3.91 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.13 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 1.1 metres across and weighed around 2 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.