Reports Report 588ai (Event 588-2012)
| Observer | |
|---|---|
| Name | David E |
| Experience Level | 4/5 |
| Remarks | I witnessed it from my home in Clovis, Ca. I was in the back yard mowing my lawn when I had just finished a row and turned north to start the next. I had gotten a couple of steps when I glanced up and saw something that took me by surprise. It was extremely bright and seemed to be heading towards the Earth at approximately a 30 degree downward angle heading from east to west. I had no idea how far the object was from me at the time and assumed that it was much closer. Perhaps a few miles north and on a path to land a mile or so west. I called 911 and reported it just in case it landed somewhere close. After seeing some of the locations where fragments were found it appears that while my estimation of distance was off, the trajectory was about right. Another thing I did notice was the shape of the object. It wasn\'t a traditional fireball as one would expect from movies, etc. But rather it was more like a forward leaning parallelogram with a leading edge I suppose composed of several small objects. It seemed to be darker in front with some blue, brilliant white and tailing off in yellow. It was clearly in view over the trees of my neighbor\'s yard and traveling fast at a downward 30degree angle as I previously mentioned before disappearing from my view behind my house. What I witnessed was very brief and only lasted a fraction of a second and was so unusual to me that I didn\'t at first realize it was a meteor. I realize now how far south I was, and am amazed I saw it, but this object appeared fairly large to me. For example, If I were to extend my arm and represent the size of the object between my fingers it would be about 1-1/4\" to 1-1/2\" in size. |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Address | Clovis, CA |
| Latitude | 36° 51' 15.32'' N (36.854256°) |
| Longitude | 119° 43' 30.03'' W (-119.725007°) |
| Elevation | - |
| Time and Duration | |
|---|---|
| Local Date & Time | 2012-04-22 07:50 PDT |
| UT Date & Time | 2012-04-22 14:50 UT |
| Duration | ≈1s |
| Direction | |
|---|---|
| Moving direction | From up right to down left |
| Descent Angle | 225° |
| Moving | |
|---|---|
| Facing azimuth | 359.16338° |
| First azimuth | 357.422° |
| First elevation | 30° |
| Last azimuth | 348.1914° |
| Last elevation | 20° |
| Brightness and color | |
|---|---|
| Stellar Magnitude | -27 |
| Color | white tailing off to yell |
| Concurrent Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Remarks | - |
| Delayed Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Remarks | To me it was silent but I was operating a lawn mower at the time which could explain why I heard no sounds. |
| Persistent train | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Duration | -1s |
| Length | -1° |
| Remarks | - |
| Terminal flash | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Remarks | One thing I did notice was the shape of the object. It wasn\'t a traditional fireball as one would expect from movies, etc. But rather it was more like a forward leaning parallelogram with a leading edge I suppose composed of several small objects. It seemed to be darker in front with some blue, brilliant white and tailing off in yellow. It was clearly in view over the trees of my neighbor\'s yard and traveling fast at a downward 30degree angle as I previously mentioned before disappearing from my view behind my house. It was very bright, like the sun. What I witnessed was very brief and only lasted a fraction of a second and was so unusual to me that I didn\'t at first realize it was a meteor. I realize now how far south I was, and am amazed I saw it, but this object appeared fairly large to me. For example, If I were to extend my arm and represent the size of the object between my fingers it would be about 1-1/4\" to 1-1/2\" in size. |
| Fragmentation | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | - |