By AMANE OGATSU/ Staff Writer
August 25, 2025 at 18:13 JST
A fireball meteor, left, is captured on Aug. 19 by a fixed camera at Fukuoka Airport. (Provided by Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting Co.)
A fireball meteor spotted over southwestern Japan on Aug. 19 was the most powerful recorded in the region since data collection began in 1988, according to NASA.
The fireball occurred over the Pacific Ocean, about 80 kilometers southeast of the Osumi Peninsula in Kagoshima Prefecture, according to NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies.
The meteor is estimated to have released enough energy to equal 1.6 kilotons of TNT—about one-tenth the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The energy released was much less than the 441 kilotons from the 17-meter asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013.
Still, Japan’s recent meteorological event marks a significant milestone in regional records.
The meteor entered Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of 75,600 kph, according to Daichi Fujii, curator at the Hiratsuka City Museum in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Witnesses across the main island of Kyushu reported seeing a bright flash and those in Kagoshima heard a sonic boom.
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