Even though it look like a fireball I'm going to have to say that it very possibly could have been a craft that was just burning up before it hit the ground I've seen a lot of fireballs this looks more like a hunk of metal that was on fire the color didn't change as it does as a fireball goes through the sky I usually can see a green yellow orange red with a tail of multiple links sometimes not that big of a tail but this one had no train.
Location
Address
Lake Forest, CA
Latitude
33° 39' 6.17'' N (33.651713°)
Longitude
117° 40' 24.28'' W (-117.673412°)
Elevation
208.100342m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2023-07-26 00:30 PDT
UT Date & Time
2023-07-26 07:30 UT
Duration
≈3.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From down left to up right
Descent Angle
63°
Moving
Facing azimuth
63°
First azimuth
319.06°
First elevation
71°
Last azimuth
258.96°
Last elevation
-
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
-
Color
Orange, Yellow
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
Yes
Remarks
There was a slight one to three second rumble very low but at the same time that it hit the ground about a second after it looked like it actually hit in Irvine by the 5 freeway very close to the 5 freeway and just north of Alton parkway I was very surprised how close it was to my location that I even got the chance to see it considering that there was an opening just where I was looking long enough to see it a couple seconds. As I was looking North it started at about between 1:00 and 2:00 on a clock and ended at about 7:00 these are relative to the positions of a clock not the time. I'm constantly observing the sky at night and have been for many years this is giving me a lot of experience I wouldn't call myself an expert but I know more than the average Joe for sure.. I feel like I need to make this reference; it looked very similar to the cell phone footage that a police officer took of the fireball in Las Vegas: where the family said they saw entities in their backyard that were about 10 to 13 feet tall..........very very similar to that.
