A new map shows where hundreds of fireball meteors, an unusually bright meteor that can shine brighter than Venus, have affected the Earth’s atmosphere for the past 33 years.
The Center for the Study of Near Earth Objects (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory collected data from 1988 to 2021 of fireballs detected by government sensors.
The world map shows points, which vary in four different sizes and colors, which are proportional to the impact energy (kinetics) of each fireball, the total energy that the meteoroid brought to the atmosphere due to of its speed.
Scientists use the kinetic energy given off by the fireball, sound waves, and energy at other wavelengths to determine the size even before it enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
These calculations helped scientists determine the fireball meteorite that fell over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15, 2013, measuring 65 feet in diameter, which is the largest shown on the map.
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The world map shows points, which vary in four different sizes and colors, which are proportional to the impact energy (kinetics) of each fireball, the total energy that the meteoroid brought to the atmosphere due to of its speed.
This fireball exploded over the Ural Mountains, causing a shock wave that shattered windows, damaged buildings and injured 1,600 people.
The meteorite shattered into multiple pieces as it entered the atmosphere, scattering debris and creating a shock wave estimated to be as strong as 20 Hiroshima atomic bombs.
The second largest group of fireballs shown on the map fell mainly around the Pacific Ocean and bordering countries, such as Fiji and other islands surrounding Asia.
The United States has been affected by smaller-sized meteorites, though not as many as other parts of the world.
These calculations helped scientists determine the fireball meteorite that fell over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15, 2013, measuring 65 feet in diameter, which is the largest shown on the map.
The meteorite shattered into multiple pieces as it entered the atmosphere, scattering debris and creating a shock wave estimated to be as strong as 20 Hiroshima atomic bombs. The image shows one of the pieces
Paul Chodas, director of CNEOS, said in a statement: “More people see meteors during a shower because there are so many. For the Perseids, there are up to 100 meteors per hour.” The fireball events, instead, they are quite rare and can happen any day of the year. “
However, most of these rare meteors that entered the Earth’s atmosphere since 1988 appear to have broken into one of the planet’s five oceans and were probably unnoticed by most humans.
Paul Chodas, director of CNEOS, said in a statement: “More people see meteors during a shower because there are so many. For the Perseids, there are up to 100 meteors per hour.
“Fireball events, on the other hand, are pretty rare and can happen any day of the year.”
The spectacular meteor shower of the Perseids, which occurred earlier this month, saw between 40 and 100 fireballs crossing the night sky every hour from August 11-13.
NASA photographer Bill Ingalls captured an impressive photograph of a meteor passing overhead on Aug. 11 from the top of Spruce Mountain in West Virginia.
Some thin clouds persisted, reflecting light from distant urban areas.
The meteorite in the photo appears to be green in some areas, according to Bill Cooke, led by NASA’s Office of the Environment, which is due to the way the meteoroid excited oxygen molecules during its impact with the atmosphere.
Cooke also noted that Perseid rain is especially rich in bright meteors.
He pointed to data from NASA’s network of all-sky meteorite cameras, which can detect meteors brighter than Jupiter.
“The number of bright meteors in the Perseids worsens the rest of the meteor shower, 30 percent more than the Geminid rain, which has better rates and is also noticeable for bright meteorites,” Cooke said in a statement.