My dad (facing away from the flash) described it by saying it was like a camera's flash had gone off right behind him. He said that even from his vantage point, the whole sky seemed to suddenly light up.
Location
Address
Plano, TX
Latitude
33° 2' 6.84'' N (33.035233°)
Longitude
96° 45' 24.11'' W (-96.756697°)
Elevation
220.649796m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2012-12-23 00:30 CST
UT Date & Time
2012-12-23 06:30 UT
Duration
≈1.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From up to down
Descent Angle
180°
Moving
Facing azimuth
251.34°
First azimuth
248.38°
First elevation
60°
Last azimuth
253.44°
Last elevation
40°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
-28
Color
Light Blue
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Persistent train
Observation
Yes
Duration
10s
Length
10°
Remarks
At first it just looked like a thin white line shooting from the sky straight down, then it exploded or something and the entire sky lit up light blue. My dad was facing me (looking away from the flash) and he said that even from his perspective the sky was lit up by a light blue flash of light. Then he whipped around and we both saw the thin white line that I first noticed slowly evaporate (or at least fade out of view).
Terminal flash
Observation
Yes
Remarks
At first it just looked like a thin white line and then it expanded in a flash of blue light that seemed to cover the entire sky and lasted for about a second. I was able to barely see the light expand, though. It went from a thin white line to a huge blue light. The light seemed to swell slowly at first and then the flash just suddenly blotted out the sky for an instant. Then it was gone and the white line slowly started to fade into the night sky.
