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American Meteor Society -- Fireball Reporting Form

This form is intended to be easy to fill out for anyone who has seen a fireball. Your report is important, it alerts us to potentially scientifically significant events that occur, and contributes to the general database of knowledge about meteors. Please provide as much information as you can, any items you cannot fill in, leave blank. We will contact you if we have any follow-up questions. Please note that summaries of your data will be published on our website, including your name and location of observation. If you wish to keep anonymous please supply only your first name. As for location, the nearest town will suffice, even if it lies many miles away. We will contact you if exact locations are needed.

Contact Information

Observer's name:  
Observer's e-mail (required):  
Address:  
Phone (home):   Phone (work):  

Date of Occurrence

Please enter the local calendar date of your event. While it may seem obvious, some witnesses report an event years after they saw it so we also ask that you please include the year.
Date (required):  

Time of Occurrence

Time (required): AM PM 24 hour clock

Time Zone:
UTC Eastern Central Mountain Pacific Alaskan/Hawaiian
Other (Specify)

Standard time or daylight savings time? Standard Time Daylight Savings Time

Observation Location

Please give the name of the location and if at all possible the geographic coordinates. If you do not know them, describe the location in reference to nearby cities or towns, or prominent landmarks. Please do not use local or ambiguous descriptions such as roads or counties.
Location Name (required):  

If possible, provide the geographic coordinates of the observation location.
Latitude - deg, min, sec (or decimal form):  
Longitude - deg, min, sec (or decimal form):  

How bright was it?

Standard stellar magnitude scale:  

If you're not familiar with the stellar magnitude system, use one of the following:

As bright as Venus
Brighter than Venus but dimmer than the 1st quarter moon
As bright as the 1st quarter moon
Brighter than the 1st quarter but dimmer than the full moon
As bright as the full moon
Brighter than the full moon
As bright as the Sun
Brighter than the Sun

Please do not include meteors of magnitude -4 or fainter

How long did it last?

Duration (in seconds):  

If you're not sure, use one of the following estimations:

Less than 1 second
1 - 2 seconds
2 - 5 seconds
5 - 10 seconds
Greater than 10 seconds

What color was it?

Color:  

In what direction did you FIRST see it?

Initial Azimuth (bearing) in degrees:  
Azimuth Type:  Magnetic True

If you are not familiar with determining azimuths, indicate one of the following:

Directly overhead
North
Northeast
East
Southeast
South
Southwest
West
Northwest
I'm not sure

How far above the horizon was it when it first appeared? If it appeared above an elevated horizon, please estimate the height above where the true horizon would be.

Initial Altitude in degrees:  

In what direction did you LAST see it?

Final Azimuth (bearing) in degrees:  
Azimuth Type:  Magnetic True

If you are not familiar with determining azimuths, indicate one of the following:

Directly overhead
North
Northeast
East
Southeast
South
Southwest
West
Northwest
I'm not sure

How far above the horizon was it when it last appeared? If it appeared above an elevated horizon, please estimate the height above where the true horizon would be.

Final Altitude in degrees:  

Did it pass directly overhead?

Yes No

Was there a persistent train (trail) associated with it?

Some fireballs leave glowing "trains" after the fireball has disappeared. Did this object have one? If so, describe it as best you can. For length estimates remember that from the horizon to straight up (zenith) is 90 degrees.

Did the object leave a train? Yes No

How long did it last? seconds minutes

What color was the train?  

How long was the train (in degrees)?  

If you checked "yes" to the above, please describe the details of the train, such as whether you thought it was a either a smoke trail or a glowing train, and any changes that occurred to the train over time.

Was this fireball a bolide?

A bolide is a fireball that ends its visible flight in a bright terminal flash (explosion).

Did you see a terminal flash with this fireball? Yes No

If you checked "yes," please describe the details of what you saw.

Were there sonic effects associated with it?

Some fireballs will have sounds (sonics) associated with them, divided into two types: (1) those sounds which are heard concurrently with the fireball observation (called electrophonic sounds), and (2) those sounds which are delayed, usually occurring within a few minutes after the observation (these can be sonic booms or terminal burst booms).

Did you hear any concurrent sounds associated with this fireball? Yes No
Did you hear any delayed sounds (booms) associated with this fireball? Yes No

If you checked "yes" to either of the above, please describe the details of what you heard. If the sounds were delayed, please include your best estimation of the length of time between the fireball and the sounds, and the time interval between successive booms.

Remarks

Place any remarks or additional information you feel is important here:
Thank you for taking the time and initiative to submit your data.

Last updated on 11/17/07