Atmospheric reentry of a fireball in France

Summary

On March 15, 2015, at 20:45, hundreds of people in northeastern France, Germany, and Switzerland observed a bright object in the sky. This event was clearly identified as a fireball, meaning the atmospheric entry of a rocky object weighing between 100 grams and 10 kilograms. The phenomenon was so intense that it illuminated the landscape for nearly 10 seconds. Several witnesses, including two pilots, reported the event, with one mistakenly believing the object was "grazing" his plane, when it was actually over 200 kilometers away. This kind of misperception is common in fireball observations, especially at high altitudes where there are no visual references.

The fireball's trajectory was recorded by specialized cameras, allowing researchers from the GEIPAN to determine that the object came from the northeast and traveled toward the southeast, passing over Stuttgart to Zurich. Despite the large number of testimonies, the actual distance and size of the object are hard to estimate. The GEIPAN classified the case as "A," meaning the phenomenon was clearly identified as a natural meteoroid. Complete data is also available from the American Meteor Association.