Bright fireball over Belgium, meteorites possible
Image credit: FRIPON/Vigie-Ciel
A bright fireball exploded over Belgium at 02:04 UTC on Wednesday, March 18, 2020. The International Meteor Organization (IMO) received 6 reports from eyewitnesses including those in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Germany. According to IMO, the meteoroid entered the atmosphere at nearly 12 km/s and an angle close to 60°. These are almost the same as the meteoroid characteristics of the New Year Italian fireball.
Six reports submitted to IMO were from observers in District de Luxembourg; Noord-Brabant and Noord-Holland in the Netherlands; Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany; and Vlaanderen in Belgium.
One viewer from Noord-Holland said he saw the meteor through foggy clouds as it streaked over the top right portion of the sky and flashed two times. Most of the witnesses said the fireball lasted for about three seconds and did not produce any sound.
Fireball heatmap. Image credit: IMO
The FRIPON network was able to record the event in Belgium. Calculations operated from the recordings indicate that the fireball had a fairly high entry angle — 60° and a low atmospheric entry speed of 12 km/s (3.33 mps).
IMO reported that the meteor ended near the tripoint of Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg.
Image credit: FRIPON/Vigie-Ciel
Image credit: FRIPON/Vigie-Ciel
These meteoroid characteristics are nearly comparable with the fireball that streaked across Italy on New Year. Two meteorites were recovered after the event.
Image credit: Ferdinand E.
Image credit: Mario B.
Published in the last 24 hours
- On December 26, 2004, a 10-year-old British girl on a Phuket beach recognized the frothing sea from a recent geography lesson, and her warning helped clear the beach before the tsunami struck Epicenter
- A volcano in Tonga exploded so loudly in 2022 that people in Alaska, 6,000 miles away, were woken by the booms. Hawaii, at half that distance, heard nothing at all
