On 13 October 1990, meteoroid EN131090, with an estimated mass of 44 kg, entered the Earth's atmosphere above Czechoslovakia and Poland and, after a few seconds, returned to space.

The encounter with Earth significantly changed its orbit and, to a smaller extent, some of its physical properties (mass and structure of its outer layer).

According to their report, the event started at 03:27:16±3 UT[note 1] and the observed bright meteor (fireball) moved from south to north.

It was the first event of this type recorded by cameras from two distant locations, at Červená hora and Svratouch (both in the present-day Czech Republic), which enabled the calculation of the meteoroid's orbital characteristics by geometrical methods.

Its camera was also equipped with a rotating shutter that interrupted the exposure 12.5 times per second and divided the captured track of the fireball, allowing the determination of its speed.

[2] Gotfred M. Kristensen also detected the fireball in Havdrup, Denmark, using a pen recorder connected to a radio receiver for 78 seconds, at 03:27:24±6 UT.

[note 1][3] The meteoroid grazed Earth's atmosphere quite gently (in comparison to, for example, the 1972 Great Daylight Fireball above the United States and Canada).

[5] Jiří Borovička and Zdeněk Ceplecha from the Ondřejov Observatory in Czechoslovakia estimated that the deceleration caused by the friction of the atmosphere reached only 1.7 m/s2 at the fireball's perigee (closest approach to Earth), and its velocity was reduced by only 0.012 km per second (less than 0.03%).

[2] This corresponds well with computer simulations provided by D. W. Olson, R. L. Doescher and K. M. Watson at the Southwest Texas State University, who concluded that the deceleration was less than 0.5 m/s2 except for a few seconds near perigee.

[8] When it entered Earth's atmosphere its mass was about 44 kg, which was estimated on the basis of the measured values of its absolute magnitude and velocity.

[2] Computer simulations showed that it started losing mass approximately at the moment it became visible to the cameras of the European Fireball Network, at a height of 100.6 km.

Even if it had headed towards lower parts of the atmosphere it would have heated so much that it would have exploded high above the ground and only some small particles (meteorites) eventually might have made it to Earth's surface.

[2] The calculations were published by Czech astronomers Pavel Spurný, Zdeněk Ceplecha, and Jiří Borovička of the Ondřejov Observatory,[1][2][5] who specialize in meteor observations.