Fireball, 1 April 2023
On 1 April 2023 at 00:02 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 16.8°S, 76.0°E, 61.8 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.084 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 1 April 2023, 00:02
- Location
- 16.8°S, 76.0°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 61.8 km
- Speed
- 46.4 km/s (167,040 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 2.34 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.084 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 59 cm across and weighed around 330 kg.
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.