Fireball Map Screensaver
The Fireball Map screensaver flashes recent fireballs — bright meteors that blaze in the upper atmosphere — on a world map, sized by energy, from NASA/JPL's fireball data via the pipeline. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
How the Fireball Map screensaver works
A background pipeline reads NASA/JPL's catalogue of recent fireballs — bolides bright enough to be detected as they burn up in the atmosphere.
The saver plots each one on a world map at the spot it was seen, flashing it with a glow sized by its released energy.
The biggest, most energetic events flare largest, so major bolides stand out across the globe.
The most energetic recent events are listed below, and it refreshes periodically.
A worked example
A flash blooms over the Pacific where a bolide released several kilotonnes of energy, smaller sparks dotting other oceans and continents — the recent list reading dates, energies and entry speeds like 18.4 km/s.
Settings & tips
- Accent recolours the fireball flashes.
- Background sets the map backdrop.
- Run
automation/run.py fireballson your pipeline machine to refresh events.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the data real?
- Yes. It comes from NASA/JPL's CNEOS fireball catalogue, gathered by the pipeline, so every flash is a recorded event.
- What is a fireball?
- A fireball, or bolide, is an unusually bright meteor — a chunk of space rock blazing as it enters the atmosphere.
- Why does it use a pipeline?
- The NASA fireball API is locked to its own origin in the browser, so a background script reads it and saves a snapshot.
- Why are some events over the ocean?
- Most of Earth is water, so many fireballs are detected over open ocean by sensors rather than eyewitnesses.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.