Event: 20251215-013059


On December 14th, 2025, a pair of brilliant Geminid fireballs caught the attention of hundreds of people in the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee. The first of these (shown above) was sighted at 7:31 PM Central Standard Time (2025 December 15 1:31 UTC) some 58 miles above Lafayette, Indiana, headed southwest at 74,000 miles per hour. It traveled 82 miles through the atmosphere before disintegrating at an altitude of 41 miles above Tuscola, Illinois.

The second fireball happened as folks were getting over this one, just five minutes later at 7:36 PM (1:36 UTC). It was first sighted 58 miles above Crumstown, Indiana (near South Bend). It moved with the same speed and direction as the previous fireball, and covered roughly the same distance before fragmenting 42 miles above St. Anne, Illinois.


Event Data

Event ID 20251215-013059
Date (UTC) Dec. 15, 2025
Time (UTC) 01:30:59
Origin 3200 Phaethon
Chicken Little Start Lat/Lon +40.331, -86.834
Chicken Little End Lat/Lon +39.769, -88.163
Chicken Little Altitude 93.2 km → 65.3 km ( 57.9 miles→ 40.6 miles)
Chicken Little Speed 33.0 km/s (73,900 mph)