Very bright daylight fireball explodes over Russia, meteorites possible
Featured image: Bright fireball explodes over central Russia on June 21, 2018. Credit: YouTube user Apostol875
A very bright daylight fireball exploded over western Russia at 01:11 UTC on June 21, 2018. The event lasted several seconds before the object disintegrated in a bright flash.
The meteor was seen from the cities of Kursk, Lipetsk, Voronezh and Orel. A sonic boom was associated with this event and reported by residents.
The video below shows the disintegration of the meteor in the atmosphere as seen by Meteosat 9 satellite.
Meteorites are very likely and residents are already searching for them.
This fireball event is one of the biggest so far this year and we expect more videos, images and information in the days ahead.
CNEOS/JPL analysis of sensor data suggest a location of 52.8 N, 38.1 E. The velocity was determined to be 14.4 km/s and the source energy was estimated to be 2.8 kilotons. This corresponds to the disintegration of asteroid approximately 4 m (13 feet) in diameter.
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
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