Fireball, 23 December 2021
On 23 December 2021 at 21:27 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 4.9°S, 29.6°W, 37 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.064 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 23 December 2021, 21:27
- Location
- 4.9°S, 29.6°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 37 km
- Speed
- Not released
- Light energy radiated
- 1.72 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.064 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 a typical 20 km/s, it was roughly 95 cm across and weighed around 1.3 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.