On February 15, 2013, the Sun had barely begun to rise over southeastern Russia when a brilliant ball of light illuminated the sky. A 10,000-ton meteor hurtling at 43,000 miles per hour shot across the horizon before exploding over Chelyabinsk Oblast. The explosion was measured with an impact energy of 440 kilotons. (Each kiloton [kt] is equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT.) This explosion released 30 times the energy of the atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima in 1945. Despite the meteor exploding far above the ground, the indirect blast caused nearly 1,500 serious injuries and damaged more than 7,000 buildings across six cities.
The Chelyabinsk meteor is one of 1,008 intensely bright meteors—known as fireballs—recorded by sensors operated by the United States government between 1988 and 2025. Each of these fireballs is shown in the map above. Ground- and space-based sensors have detected fireballs entering the atmosphere over all of Earth’s continents and oceans. Most fireballs in these records have relatively low impact energy (below 1 kt), though about a dozen exceed 10 kt. The Chelyabinsk meteor is the largest in the database, and the largest known meteor to enter Earth’s atmosphere since the Tunguska event in 1908. The Tunguska meteor was significantly more powerful, with an estimated impact energy almost 70 times greater than the Chelyabinsk meteor.
Meteors and bolides frequently enter Earth’s atmosphere. Most of them burn up harmlessly in the sky, though they can put on quite a show. Those lucky enough to witness these “shooting stars” may see them burning in red-orange, blue, and even green, depending on the elements they contain. Recently, a meteorite was even caught on a homeowner’s security camera as it crashed to the ground during the day.
Whether seen by day or night, meteors and the asteroids that produce them are normal features of our celestial environment. And even if we miss the chance to see one in person, the data they leave behind helps scientists learn more about these great balls of fire.
More to Explore
- Learn the differences between asteroids, bolides, meteors, and meteorites.
- See how satellites can detect bolides in 3D and even map their trajectories.
- View a map of meteors as reported by eyewitnesses.
