Reports Report 1148l (Event 1148-2019)
| Observer | |
|---|---|
| Name | Jose G |
| Experience Level | 4/5 |
| Remarks | I am a ramp controller at O'Hare. I know the visual difference between an airplane and a helicopter in the night sky versus what I saw. Initially, I thought I'd seen a flare, but I called the air traffic control tower and they reported not having seen anything (that call was recorded, by the way, so if you choose to pursue this further, you can file a FOIA request to get that call audio). I also contacted my friend in the city airfield operations tower, but he was busy and didn't see anything. I myself am an a planespotter, my eyes are always turned to the skies for watching planes and aircraft and I know that what I saw wasn't an aircraft. My friend in the airfield ops tower suggested I report this to you and also mentioned I may have seen space junk burning up. |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Address | Chicago, IL |
| Latitude | 41° 58' 37.33'' N (41.977035°) |
| Longitude | 87° 53' 52.11'' W (-87.897807°) |
| Elevation | 198.980286m |
| Time and Duration | |
|---|---|
| Local Date & Time | 2019-03-15 20:34 CDT |
| UT Date & Time | 2019-03-16 01:34 UT |
| Duration | ≈1.5s |
| Direction | |
|---|---|
| Moving direction | From down right to up left |
| Descent Angle | 322° |
| Moving | |
|---|---|
| Facing azimuth | 359.14° |
| First azimuth | 322.35° |
| First elevation | 39° |
| Last azimuth | 323.71° |
| Last elevation | 42° |
| Brightness and color | |
|---|---|
| Stellar Magnitude | -11 |
| Color | Orange, Yellow, Red, White |
| Concurrent Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Remarks | - |
| Delayed Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Remarks | - |
| Persistent train | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Duration | - |
| Length | - |
| Remarks | - |
| Terminal flash | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | There was a bright white glowing "head" with a short trail of red "sparks" behind it and there was a final bright flash and the entire thing disappeared |
| Fragmentation | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | Just like I previously stated, there was a very short trail of reddish-range sparks following a bright, yellowish-white "head" and after just a second or 2 of seeing it outside my ramp tower window, it flashed brightly and quickly and it was all over. |