I was walking quietly on a private dirt lane when I saw it. The intense bright light overhead is what attracted my initial attention and I was fortunate to see it trail a short ways before it exploded. Th explosion illuminated the crop field and adjacent woods very clearly...it actually hurt my eyes a little. I had a completely unobstructed view of it. I also waited for a long moment for a report, which never came. It was noiseless.
Location
Address
Royal Oak, MD
Latitude
38° 41' 41.93'' N (38.694981°)
Longitude
76° 11' 47.98'' W (-76.196662°)
Elevation
1.179m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2016-01-30 18:15 EST
UT Date & Time
2016-01-30 23:15 UT
Duration
≈1.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From up right to down left
Descent Angle
241°
Moving
Facing azimuth
342.41°
First azimuth
5.65°
First elevation
49°
Last azimuth
306.9°
Last elevation
35°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
-20
Color
Light Blue, Green, White
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Persistent train
Observation
Yes
Duration
0.5s
Length
20°
Remarks
white, very bright and faded to very thin point. lots of fragments trailing behind and to sides.
Terminal flash
Observation
Yes
Remarks
It became very bright white and then exploded in a large shower of sparks. Center of explosion was bright green (like a green laser) surrounded by a deep blue flash. It very closely resembled a fireworks display, and that's exactly what I thought it was at first but there was no report.
Fragmentation
Observation
Yes
Remarks
The meteor was trailing debris burning bright orange then it exploded completely into hundreds of small fragments that spread out in a shotgun pattern. These fragments burned bright green and blue then orange and then extinguished. The whole event lasted maybe 1 second, two seconds at most.
