More light than ten Sun

1994/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

For nineteen years, US military satellites have watched the Earth and detected strong explosions in the upper layers of the atmosphere. They have been caused by the disintegration of shooting stars into the atmosphere. But this year, for their power and brightness, they have seen one that has easily surpassed all previous ones.

The meteorite fell in the Pacific on February 1, a few thousand kilometers west of Malaysia. The luminosity emitted when disintegrating was greater than that of the Sun and the fishermen of the island of Kusaie saw it 300 km. The ball got into the fire southwest to the atmosphere in the northeast direction and at 20 kilometers of altitude caused a big explosion.

The meteorite had a power of 11 kilotons, equivalent to the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Considering that it was a rock meteorite, a mass of 400 tons of diameter of 7 meters has been estimated and a fall of 15 km/s. But these values are based on 30% light output, and according to NASA experts, in this case the performance was only 3%. The kinetic energy released in the shock would therefore be 110 kilowatts, and the meteorite mass of 3,000 tons (15 meters in diameter).