I have never seen anything even close to the size and brightness of this object and I have seen a lot of shooting stars and small fireballs - even some I have heard. This one almost seemed to be lower than the planes here (close to SFO) yet there was no noise.
The brightness I would say in terms of it\'s actual burning intensity was as bright or brighter than the sun but it was very local too it, not casting enough light to change the local lighting much.
Location
Address
San Mateo, CA
Latitude
37° 33' 27.69'' N (37.557691°)
Longitude
122° 17' 7.44'' W (-122.285401°)
Elevation
-
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2012-10-17 19:45 PDT
UT Date & Time
2012-10-18 02:45 UT
Duration
≈3.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From up left to down right
Descent Angle
135°
Moving
Facing azimuth
268.66765°
First azimuth
246.03776°
First elevation
54°
Last azimuth
278.74438°
Last elevation
41°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
1
Color
White
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
I was waiting to hear something as it looked so close but I didn\'t hear anything. There is a lot of traffic noise here though.
Persistent train
Observation
Unknown
Duration
2s
Length
99.99°
Remarks
The train burnt out slower than the fireball and then was invisible like the debris the fireball was sloughing was staying with it but slightly behind it.
Terminal flash
Observation
No
Remarks
The fireball was throwing debris off of it but had not burnt out as it went out of view - it was still as large and bright as when I first saw it.
