Zharma District, Kazakhstan Жарма ауданы
Zharma District, Kazakhstan – February 2, 2021, 3:03 PM local time, U.S. Government Sensors detected a 0.13 kiloton event in the Zharma District of East Kazakhstan. This was a large fireball, which came in relatively slow, and at a fairly steep angle, so fragmentation and a large number of meteorites are possible.
| Event ID: | Y20210202_10Z_44U |
| Entry Date/Time: | 2021-02-02 10:03:21 UTC |
| End Location: | 60km WSW of Zharma |
| Endpoint Coordinates: | 48.7°N, 80.1°E |
| Reference Altitude: | 20 km above sea level |
| Energy / Mass Estimate: | 0.11kt TNT / 5651 kg |
| Reference Speed: | 12.76 km/s |
| Bearing: | 246.4° WSW |
| Slope: | 25.8° from vertical |
| Estimated Strewn Mass: | <2100 kg |
| Classification: | unknown |
| Event Links: | CNEOS |
Search Efforts
Considering the size and speed of the meteor, it is possible that up to 2100 kilograms of meteorites are scattered across the plains of East Kazakhstan. This region of Kazakhstan is usually covered in snow for 5 months of the year, so the best time to hunt will probably start in April.
No known search efforts are in progress, but due to the size of the event, there will likely be multiple expeditions planned to search for meteorites. There is no known video footage of the event, and CNEOS data is not very precise, so the search area is large.
If you plan to hunt this strewn field, please join the discussion on social media:
StrewnLAB Search Area
A trajectory has been provided from CNEOS, and this data has been run through the StrewnLAB software to predict a search area. Please download and review the Google Earth files below for detailed maps of the search area.
Weather Data
The weather data below is sourced from weather balloons, and publicly available via NOAA’s Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA). This data is downloaded and post-processed by the StrewnLAB algorithm, to account for changing weather patterns and weather balloon drift. The plots have altitude on the y-axis, in kilometers above sea level. The wind speed below 10km has large effect on the drift of meteorites.
The author and founder of Strewnify.com, an automotive controls engineer, with a passion for physics.
Hancock, Michigan, USA | james.a.goodall@gmail.com | +1 586 709 5888
