Fireball, 7 February 2025
On 7 February 2025 at 17:25 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 14.4°N, 58.0°W, 50.8 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.086 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 7 February 2025, 17:25
- Location
- 14.4°N, 58.0°W
- Height at peak brightness
- 50.8 km
- Speed
- 20.1 km/s (72,360 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 2.4 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.086 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 metres across and weighed around 1.8 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.
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.