Fireball, 29 December 2021
On 29 December 2021 at 03:15 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 69.7°S, 115.0°E, 44 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.075 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 29 December 2021, 03:15
- Location
- 69.7°S, 115.0°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 44 km
- Speed
- 22 km/s (79,200 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 2.05 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.075 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 94 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.