We live in a very rural area of northeast Arizona with excellent night sky viewing, regularly sighting meteors and satellites without the aid of a telescope. We have seen a few of these fireballs in the past but were amazed at how bright the sky was lit up when this one entered the atmosphere. It was amazing!
Location
Address
Navajo County, AZ
Latitude
34° 35' 32.43'' N (34.592343°)
Longitude
109° 52' 7.98'' W (-109.868882°)
Elevation
-
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2011-12-31 20:20 MST
UT Date & Time
2012-01-01 03:20 UT
Duration
≈7.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From up right to down left
Descent Angle
225°
Moving
Facing azimuth
85.81458°
First azimuth
85.7317°
First elevation
80°
Last azimuth
351.15823°
Last elevation
48°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
1
Color
Green
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Persistent train
Observation
No
Duration
-1s
Length
-1°
Remarks
-
Terminal flash
Observation
No
Remarks
There was a brilliant flash at the START which attracted our attention while driving to actually look out and see the meteor. It had bright orange fragmentation trailing it until it disintegrated. The trailing fragments were few (about 4 at a time) and large. The initial flash was so bright it lit up the interior of our truck.
