I\'ve been observing the skies as an amatuer astronomer for about 6 years and frequently spend time observing the night sky during meteor showers and this was far and away the most amazing thing I have ever seen in the sky. Several other people that I spoke to after pulling of the road to a starbucks just after the event had seen it and remarked similarly about it. I\'ve been hoping to whitnesss an event like this for years after seeing footage of such things and I have no doubt as to what this was and made sure to note the time/direction/duration/effects and brightness so that I could post it on here.
Location
Address
Half Moon Bay, CA
Latitude
37° 28' 59.4'' N (37.483168°)
Longitude
122° 26' 46.74'' W (-122.446318°)
Elevation
-
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2012-01-28 18:17 PST
UT Date & Time
2012-01-29 02:17 UT
Duration
≈3.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From up right to down left
Descent Angle
225°
Moving
Facing azimuth
165.71854°
First azimuth
286.46116°
First elevation
65°
Last azimuth
166.65091°
Last elevation
35°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
1
Color
Red-Yellow
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
I was in the car with the music playing so any possible sound would have been drowned out by my local enviromeny or the highway traffic
Persistent train
Observation
Yes
Duration
3s
Length
20°
Remarks
The train lasted a period of 2-3 seconds and had a bright red tail dissapating quickly to a yellowish-white toward the foci of the starburst that endend the spectacular journey of the meteorite
Terminal flash
Observation
Yes
Remarks
The trail grew in brightness and thickness over the first 2 seconds of observation and cleared approx. 40-50 degrees of my frame of view as a brilliant Red fading to Yellow color to a thicknees of 1 1/2 - 2 degrees untill erupting in a starburst/bolide and shattering to pieces sending 3 very dintinct fragments in a downward and sidward direction with a magnitude of atleast -4 and a thickness of perhaps 1/6-1/4 of a degree that continued on another 3-5 degrees in the southward direction beyond the spliting point. Several other smaller fragment were visable for a split second before the emmision of light stoped in a stagerd pattern with some of the fragments lasting just a moment longer than others
