Fireball, 7 February 2022
On 7 February 2022 at 20:06 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 28.7°S, 11.4°E, 26.5 km up. It released energy equal to about 7 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 7 February 2022, 20:06
- Location
- 28.7°S, 11.4°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 26.5 km
- Speed
- 13.1 km/s (47,160 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 348 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 7 kilotons of TNT
What does that mean?
That is a large 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 6 metres across and weighed around 340 tonnes.
It penetrated deep into the atmosphere, which makes it more likely that fragments reached the ground as meteorites. About 70% of Earth is ocean, so most fireballs like this fall into the sea.
Known meteorites nearest this point
- Aus L, Namibia · 528 km away
- St. Francis Bay L6, Namibia · 532 km away
- Namib Desert H4, Namibia · 590 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.