Credit: NASA / GSFC / LaRC / JPL-Caltech, MISR team.
Images were released this week from a "fireball" that exploded on December 18, 2018 for nearly 16 miles over the Bering Sea, captured by 2 powerful NASA instruments aboard the satellite Terra.
Details: The fireball – actually, the scientific name of these radiant meteors – released about 173 kilotons of energy – about 10 times the energy of an atomic bomb, but given its altitude and its distant destination, it posed no danger to the Earth. It was the most powerful meteor observed since Earth since 2013.
The two NASA instruments took pictures of the remaining remains of the meteor in 5 of the 9 cameras of the multi-angle imaging spectroRadiometer, illustrating a shadow produced by the trace of the meteor as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere. The still portrait obtained through the medium resolution imaging instrument SpectroRadiometer is of faithful color, illustrating a dark shadow on fluffy white clouds, residue of the meteor's journey.
Why it's important: It is rare for NASA satellites to capture a hot meteor in the upper atmosphere, making these images particularly interesting for scientists and daily observers.
