Fireball, 24 March 2025
On 24 March 2025 at 05:51 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 70.4°S, 114.2°E, 21.5 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.16 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 24 March 2025, 05:51
- Location
- 70.4°S, 114.2°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 21.5 km
- Speed
- 28.2 km/s (101,520 km/h)
- Light energy radiated
- 4.9 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.16 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 1.7 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.
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.