Event: 20201201-022000


Numerous eyewitnesses in the San Francisco Bay area reported seeing a fireball on November 30, 2020 at 6:20 PM Pacific Standard Time (2020 December 1 2:20 UTC). An analysis of their reports indicates that the meteor was first seen 56 miles above the Pacific Ocean, about 50 miles off the coast of California's Jackson Demonstration Forest, moving slightly west of north at 66,000 miles per hour. After travelling 101 miles through Earth's upper atmosphere, it ablated at an altitude of 39 miles above the Pacific. The event was also recorded by an EarthCam at Lake Tahoe, which was used to constrain the meteor's speed.


Event Data

Event ID 20201201-022000
Date (UTC) Dec. 1, 2020
Time (UTC) 02:20:00
AMS Event 7206-2020
Chicken Little Start Lat/Lon +38.559, -124.689
Chicken Little End Lat/Lon +39.994, -124.844
Chicken Little Altitude 90.6 km → 62.0 km ( 56.3 miles→ 38.6 miles)
Chicken Little Speed 29.6 km/s (66,200 mph)