Fireball, 1 January 2022
On 1 January 2022 at 20:23 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 66.1°N, 152.6°W, 35.5 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.42 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 1 January 2022, 20:23
- Location
- 66.1°N, 152.6°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 35.5 km
- Speed
- Not released
- Light energy radiated
- 14.3 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.42 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 1.8 metres across and weighed around 8.8 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.
Known meteorites nearest this point
- Hope Creek LL6, United States · 300 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.