Fireball, 6 February 2025
On 6 February 2025 at 17:52 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 1.7°S, 130.0°E, 36.2 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.073 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 6 February 2025, 17:52
- Location
- 1.7°S, 130.0°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 36.2 km
- Speed
- 17.4 km/s (62,640 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 2 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.073 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 1.1 metres across and weighed around 2 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.