I was in a dark open area when the whole area became illuminated. As I turned to the direction of the light I could see a large meteor seemingly falling to earth and a large tail formed following it. The tail was long and contained star shape fragments (5 point kind of star). My view of it was about 2-3 seconds but there was a slight delay from the first illumination to when I turned around to observe it. Amazing experience.
Location
Address
Manchester Township, NJ
Latitude
40° 1' 20.23'' N (40.022287°)
Longitude
74° 16' 31.97'' W (-74.275548°)
Elevation
12.499921m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2020-08-08 00:30 EDT
UT Date & Time
2020-08-08 04:30 UT
Duration
≈3.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From up left to down right
Descent Angle
178°
Moving
Facing azimuth
359.48°
First azimuth
1.82°
First elevation
35°
Last azimuth
1.23°
Last elevation
24°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
-23
Color
White
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Persistent train
Observation
Yes
Duration
2s
Length
10°
Remarks
the trail was long and consisted of star like fragments that were large near the meteor and tailed away to smaller fragments.
