Fireball, 20 July 2022
On 20 July 2022 at 10:56 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 43.0°S, 59.6°W, 32.2 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.15 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 20 July 2022, 10:56
- Location
- 43.0°S, 59.6°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 32.2 km
- Speed
- 16 km/s (57,600 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 4.6 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.15 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 1.5 metres across and weighed around 4.9 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
- Viedma L5, Argentina · 344 km away
- El Perdido H5, Argentina · 496 km away
- Indio Rico H6, Argentina · 530 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.