I did not hear any noise but my windows were up and I had music playing somewhat loudly. It was the coolest (or rather most extraordinary) event I’ve ever seen outside of a planetarium and I do things like wake up in the middle of the night to see a shower or planet alignments from my yard. But I’m not someone who has a telescope. I will say, it was odd because 2 days ago there was a meteor over NYC that I read about in the news. So now I’m a bit nervous that we are at the beginning of that movie Don’t Look Up 😂. It was just wild and seemed so close—it seemed closer than the low flying plane and was at such a downward angle.
Location
Address
Woodbridge Township, NJ
Latitude
40° 34' 28.82'' N (40.574673°)
Longitude
74° 14' 50.4'' W (-74.247332°)
Elevation
4.878038m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2024-07-19 21:35 EDT
UT Date & Time
2024-07-20 01:35 UT
Duration
≈3.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From up right to down left
Descent Angle
244°
Moving
Facing azimuth
19°
First azimuth
26°
First elevation
75°
Last azimuth
13°
Last elevation
60°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
-12
Color
Yellow orange bright (fire like an explosion)
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Persistent train
Observation
Yes
Duration
1s
Length
10°
Remarks
Started higher angled downward from NE to SW about 45-60 degrees. Saw a light thin bright yellow streak for @2 seconds that terminated w/ a fireball which burned out in less than a second (like a car explosion you’d see in a movie). It seemed as if there was a residual dark matter for a moment. A plane was flying NE and I thought something like a missile hit the plane (9/11 survivor) and had to catch my breath before realizing it was a meteor that seemed to pass under and down from the plane. We were in stop and go traffic so I saw the whole visible trajectory. I tried to be accurate w/ degrees but I am not a scientist. I could draw it though.
Terminal flash
Observation
Yes
Remarks
See above. Like a bomb—I literally thought something hit the plane and an engine exploded. But the plane was higher and maintained trajectory. It looked like there was a black hole left as it was darker than the sky because of fell moon and the lights in that area Turnpike was packed and there are the refineries/factories, and streetlights so even the plane was very visible despite the time of night.
Fragmentation
Observation
Yes
Remarks
I think that was the black smoke or whatever that seemed to keep its shape—again it was a split second.
