The Huge Explosion No One Noticed
In 2018, a space rock exploded over the Bering Sea with ten times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb. Nobody on Earth noticed for three months.
What was reported
On 18 December 2018, a space rock a few metres across entered the atmosphere over the Bering Sea, between Russia and Alaska, and exploded high in the air. Its energy has been estimated at about 173 kilotons of TNT, the largest such explosion since the Chelyabinsk meteor in 2013.
Because it happened over a remote stretch of ocean, almost no one saw it. Scientists only realised what had happened in March 2019, when NASA released data from US government sensors. A Japanese weather satellite had photographed the trail of smoke it left.
Explanations offered
Space rocks this size hit Earth's atmosphere every few decades, but most fall over the ocean or empty land, which covers most of the planet. The event showed how easily large impacts can go unseen, and it's one reason why space agencies are building better systems to spot incoming objects.
- When
- 18 December 2018
- Where
- The Bering Sea, off Kamchatka
- Witnesses
- Satellites, and almost no people
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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