Satellites designed to monitor lightning recorded the explosion of a meteor over the South Atlantic.
By combining their images, researchers reconstructed its trajectory and obtained a different speed from the initial estimate. This method could enrich the inventory of small near-Earth objects, still very incomplete.
Example of a meteor crossing the night sky.
Image Wikimedia
The fireball was detected on April 1, 2026, at 02:13 UTC, off the coast of Argentina. Its maximum brightness occurred at an altitude of about 90.5 kilometers. US government sensors reported the event, subsequently listed in the database of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.
The communicated velocity components indicated an exceptionally fast atmospheric entry. Before deducing a possible origin, the team had to verify this measurement with independent instruments. It turned to two civilian sensors mounted on geostationary weather satellites, kept above the same region of Earth at an altitude of about 36,000 kilometers.
The Geostationary Lightning Mapper on the US GOES-East satellite and the Lightning Imager on the European MTG-I1 satellite both captured the phenomenon. These instruments record millions of lightning flashes daily. A fireball, however, leaves a distinct signature: its signal follows a line and its intensity gradually increases before decreasing, unlike a spontaneous lightning flash.
The comparison of the two viewpoints made it possible to recover a position and a direction compatible with the US data. Two independent models, however, give a maximum speed about 18% lower. This correction reduces the range of possible trajectories and guides the interpretation toward an object coming from the outer regions of the Solar System.
This origin is not yet established with certainty. The researchers must continue the detailed analysis. They also plan to use infrasound, acoustic waves too low for the human ear, recorded by the international network monitoring nuclear tests.
Ultimately, optical, acoustic, radar and seismic data could be combined with observations preceding certain impacts. Scientists would then link the orbit and properties of an object in space to its fragmentation in the atmosphere.