Fireball, 21 April 2025
On 21 April 2025 at 09:27 UTC, sensors detected a fireball above 29.1°S, 151.6°E, 41 km up. It released energy equal to about 0.082 kilotons of TNT.
The numbers
- Date and time (UTC)
- 21 April 2025, 09:27
- Location
- 29.1°S, 151.6°E
- Height at peak brightness
- 41 km
- Speed
- Not released
- Light energy radiated
- 2.3 × 10¹⁰ joules
- Estimated total energy
- 0.082 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 a typical 20 km/s, it was roughly 1 metres across and weighed around 1.7 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
- Emmaville Eucrite-mmict, Australia · 41 km away
- Bingera Iron, IIAB, Australia · 133 km away
- Dorrigo Iron, ungrouped, Australia · 167 km away
Saw a bright fireball yourself? Report what you saw.