Reports Report 4o (Event 4-2016)
| Observer | |
|---|---|
| Name | Lee C |
| Experience Level | 4/5 |
| Remarks | Watching TV when it happened. Dull orange flash of light about 1/2 second or less on southward wall highlighting a shadow indicating 45 deg el. source from uncurtained high windows. Pop sound from west-facing metal roof at exact same instance of onset. A trail camera picked up the fireball from metal reflections, several sources. Gating duration of trail camera sensor unknown. IR LEDs did not turn on. Very bright. I deduced from wall flash and trail cam photo the event was roughly about 45 deg elevation from west or north of west, although elevation is only a rough guess. I study ELF solar and auroral radiation, so metal roof sound makes me wonder if roof may have responded to a transient ELF RF field. Just a notion, no proof to back that up since I was not operating my equipment when event occured. An object that high should not be audible at time of sighting, so idea of ELF RF (electroacoustic) involvement is compelling to me. The trail cam detected an infrared component of the event to trigger the photo. The camera does not trigger from LED (UV) flashlights. |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Address | Hiwassee, VA |
| Latitude | 36° 57' 47.16'' N (36.9631°) |
| Longitude | 80° 43' 8.9'' W (-80.71914°) |
| Elevation | 566m |
| Time and Duration | |
|---|---|
| Local Date & Time | 2016-01-03 20:15 EST |
| UT Date & Time | 2016-01-04 01:15 UT |
| Duration | ? |
| Direction | |
|---|---|
| Moving direction | From left to right |
| Descent Angle | 90° |
| Moving | |
|---|---|
| Facing azimuth | 93.85° |
| First azimuth | 272.26° |
| First elevation | 45° |
| Last azimuth | 307.62° |
| Last elevation | 45° |
| Brightness and color | |
|---|---|
| Stellar Magnitude | -14 |
| Color | Orange |
| Concurrent Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | Inside, heard a 'pop' sound from west-facing metal roof at exact instance I saw the flash of orange on my wall. I suspect some type of electrostatic/electromagnetic ELF effect on roof. Should not be able to hear an object so high at instance of visual event unless some ELF RF phenomenon is involved. Maybe metal roof acted as transducer in RF field? Did not seem to be an accidental coincidence. |
| Delayed Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | - |
| Persistent train | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Duration | - |
| Length | - |
| Remarks | Was inside. Did not see it when it occurred, only the light on the wall and the trail cam detection. |
| Terminal flash | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | Flash was on interior wall of house. Motion of luminous object could have caused occultation by exterior wall past boundary of high window, causing appearance of a flash in house. Trail cam shows short light path probably from exposure duration rather than length of fireball travel. Trail camera IR LEDs did not turn on; Exposure was passively illuminated from fireball reflections on house roof and shed. |
| Fragmentation | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | - |