The explosion unleashed around 173 kilotons of energy, more than 10 times that of the atomic bomb blast over Hiroshima in World War II.

Images captured minutes after the fireball disintegrated in the atmosphere show the shadow of the meteor's trail cast on top of clouds, elongated by the sun's low position.

The super-heated air turns the clouds to an orange tint in the meteor's wake.

The MISR instrument, also on Terra 🛰, saw the large "fireball" — the term used for exceptionally bright meteors ☄️ that are visible over a wide area — as it exploded 💥 about 16 miles above the Bering Sea, far enough way to pose no threat. pic.twitter.com/lyjyZKBZOm — NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) March 22, 2019

The photographs were taken by two NASA instruments on board the Terra satellite.

A still image was taken at 2350 GMT, while five of the of nine cameras on the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument took another sequence of photos at 2355, which NASA collated into a GIF that shows the orange trail

NASA estimates that the meteor occurred at 23:48 GMT.

Meteors are rocks from outer space that become incandescent upon entering earth's atmosphere as a result of friction. They are also known as shooting stars. Pieces which survive intact and hit the ground are known as meteorites.

Did you miss the meteor ☄️ spotted over the Bering Sea in December 2018? Don’t worry — our satellite 🛰 saw it! The MODIS instrument on @NASA's Terra satellite caught this view 👀 of the meteor’s shadow, visible as the gray streak above the clouds ☁️.https://t.co/VUDxPjWgqn pic.twitter.com/s8pcO6XxUE — NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) March 22, 2019

It was the most powerful explosion in the atmosphere since the fireball that burst over the Russian town of Chelyabinsk in 2013. That was 440 kilotons, and left 1,500 people injured, mostly from glass flying out of smashed windows.

This time around, the blast occurred over waters, hundreds of kilometers off the Russian coast.