American Meteor Society

Reports Report 5879a (Event 5879-2018)

Observer
Name Richard R
Experience Level 3/5
Remarks -
Location
Address Des Moines, IA
Latitude 41° 35' 10.03'' N (41.58612°)
Longitude 93° 40' 14.75'' W (-93.670763°)
Elevation 294.473m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time 2018-12-23 22:29 CST
UT Date & Time 2018-12-24 04:29 UT
Duration ≈3.5s
Direction
Moving direction From up right to down left
Descent Angle 223°
Moving
Facing azimuth 29.23°
First azimuth 100.65°
First elevation 79°
Last azimuth 295.24°
Last elevation 47°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude -9
Color It started white/blue and burned out to a red ember
Concurrent Sound
Observation No
Remarks -
Delayed Sound
Observation No
Remarks -
Persistent train
Observation Yes
Duration 2s
Length 15°
Remarks The whole thing started out like a “shooting star” for about 10deg. and then grew big and bright another 15deg. And over a distance of about 20-30deg. It slowly fizzled. The middle third of that I began to see I bright tail 4-5deg. long. When it was fizzling out it got as long as 10 maybe 20deg of red burning out
Terminal flash
Observation Yes
Remarks It got brighter as it grew a tail. The middle third of it twinkled as it went from white to orange
Fragmentation
Observation Yes
Remarks the tail looked the texture of a shotgun blast.