Reports Report 2930i (Event 2930-2019)
| Observer | |
|---|---|
| Name | Lauren H |
| Experience Level | 5/5 |
| Remarks | I am an advanced visual observer, but don't have much experience observing meteors specifically. At the time of the fireball, I was looking the other way, down at my (dimmed but unfiltered) laptop screen as I was controlling a telescope to do spectrography. I saw my surroundings light up from the fireball, and whipped around instinctively, at which point I saw the train hanging in the sky. It was confusing to the eyes at first, and for a split second I wondered if it was the Starlink train (because when I had watched the Starlink train a couple day after launch it had a similar 'smoky line' appearance before it began to flare). I would estimate the magnitude at not more than that of the full moon and not less than a thin crescent, based on the fact that my surroundings were illuminated brightly enough for me to react instinctively but still somewhat faintly on retrospect. (I don't recall seeing colors, just a greyish brightening in my peripheral vision). I tried to commit the location of the train relative to the background stars to memory in the first few seconds after it appeared, then identified the stars and wrote it down as quickly as I could. I then derived approximate altitude / azimuth measurements on the afternoon of the 8th using SkyTools set to the correct time and date. |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Address | Spring, TX |
| Latitude | 30° 0' 41.45'' N (30.011514°) |
| Longitude | 95° 33' 10.24'' W (-95.552844°) |
| Elevation | 40.618729m |
| Time and Duration | |
|---|---|
| Local Date & Time | 2019-07-07 22:58 CDT |
| UT Date & Time | 2019-07-08 03:58 UT |
| Duration | ≈1.5s |
| Direction | |
|---|---|
| Moving direction | From up right to down left |
| Descent Angle | 234° |
| Moving | |
|---|---|
| Facing azimuth | 22° |
| First azimuth | 36° |
| First elevation | 57° |
| Last azimuth | 13° |
| Last elevation | 40° |
| Brightness and color | |
|---|---|
| Stellar Magnitude | - |
| Color | - |
| Concurrent Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | - |
| Delayed Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | - |
| Persistent train | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Duration | 4s |
| Length | 20° |
| Remarks | The train was about 20 degrees long (estimated with my fists), and magnitude 3.5 or 4 in 'obviousness' (a non-astronomer would have had no trouble seeing it, but someone coming out a bright house may have had trouble). The train may have been greenish, and faded fairly quickly over the course of not more than 5 seconds. It passed through a point one-third of the way from Delta Dra and Alpha Cep, with two-thirds of the train lying to the right (south) of the line between the two stars. The train faded in and out smoothly at the ends in terms of brightness, and the brightness of the train peaked roughly between Delta Dra and Alpha Cep. If the train were extended backwards, it would have intersected the star Delta Cyg, and if extended forward, it would pass below Polaris. |
| Terminal flash | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | - |
| Fragmentation | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | - |