'Fireball' Twice Exploded in September... Meteor Still Missing

KASI Releases Orbital Analysis Data of Seocheon Crater
Seocheon Crater Exploded Twice in September
Meteorite Yet to Be Found

Meteor footage captured by the meteor monitoring network being established by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, recorded by a surveillance camera installed on the rooftop of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute headquarters.

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] The fireball (Seocheon fireball) witnessed in most regions nationwide except Jeju Island around 1:39 a.m. on September 23 was found to have exploded twice in the atmosphere above South Korea after entering the atmosphere. However, no meteorites resulting from this were discovered. The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute announced these investigation results on the 15th. A fireball refers to a meteor brighter than usual meteors (shining brighter than Venus).

As a result of analyzing footage from the meteor monitoring network, all-sky cameras at the Daejeon and Geochang observatories, and videos submitted by the public at the Space Hazard Monitoring Center of the Astronomy Institute, the Seocheon fireball flew in from the western sky around 1:39 a.m. It began to shine at an altitude of 70 km over the West Sea and disappeared after exploding twice in the atmosphere.

The first explosion is estimated to have occurred over Seocheon County (latitude 36.07°N, longitude 126.73°E, altitude 44.5 km), and the second explosion over the boundary between Seocheon County and Iksan City (latitude 36.06°N, longitude 126.86°E, altitude 34.3 km). The fireball's atmospheric entry speed was 13 km/s, and the angle of incidence was 40 degrees. If the Seocheon fireball did not completely burn up in the atmosphere and fragments fell, the trajectory after the second explosion point is estimated to have landed within 40 km in the direction of travel. However, the flight path of the fireball is influenced by the explosion energy and weather conditions at the time, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact landing location.

So far, no meteorite fragments presumed to be from the Seocheon fireball have been found. The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, which is responsible for meteorite appraisal and registration, expect that future combined seismic wave analysis will enable estimation of the explosion energy and size of the meteoroid. At the time the Seocheon fireball fell, infrasound observatories in Gunsan and Daejeon detected sounds presumed to be from the fireball. Some seismic observatories in Taean, Hongseong, Seosan, and Daejeon also confirmed atmosphere-ground coupled seismic waves caused by the Seocheon fireball. The infrasound observatories previously analyzed data from 19 infrasound stations during the Jinju meteorite fall on March 19, 2014, estimating the meteorite’s trajectory, impact time on Earth's surface, and impact energy.

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