Fireball Over Southern Japan Releases 1.6-Kiloton Energy

On the night of August 19, 2025, a bright fireball illuminated the skies over southern Japan, including regions such as Kyushu, Shikoku, and Kansai, releasing an estimated 1.6 kilotons of energy as it disintegrated over the Pacific Ocean southeast of Kyushu. The fireball, captured by multiple surveillance and dashcam recordings, exhibited vivid colors ranging from green to fiery orange and a bluish-white glow, briefly lighting the night sky as if it were daytime. Eyewitnesses reported hearing explosions and described the event as a rare and dazzling celestial phenomenon, with some initially mistaking it for volcanic activity. Experts, including the director of the Kawauchi Space Museum, identified the fireball as a meteor or space debris burning up upon entering Earth's atmosphere, with no confirmed meteorite fragments reaching the ground. The event's atmospheric vibrations were detected by monitoring equipment on the Sakurajima volcano, and preliminary analysis estimated an entry velocity of about 21 km/s and a terminal altitude near 18 km. While significantly smaller than the 2013 Chelyabinsk airburst, this fireball remains notable as such events of this scale occur only a few times annually and rarely pose a ground hazard.