Reports Report 4759fe (Event 4759-2024)
| Observer | |
|---|---|
| Name | Joe E |
| Experience Level | 3/5 |
| Remarks | This was a transfixing experience, as while I am an avid outdoorsman and have seen many astronomical phenomena, including dozens, if not hundreds, of shooting stars, I have never seen anything approaching this in color, brilliance, or magnitude. I frequent dark-sky regions, spending much time fishing dozens of miles from the nearest road in the high alpine wilderness areas of Wyoming and Idaho, and also own high-altitude land in a dark-sky region of West Virginia. It was there, unloading my family's luggage at our ranch at a bit after 1:00 AM that I witnessed this multicolored fireball. It reminded me most closely of the Aztec descriptions of such an astronomical event that coincided with first contact with the Spanish, as it seemed to send down liquid drops of multi-colored plasma. |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Address | Lashmeet, WV |
| Latitude | 37° 26' 43.08'' N (37.445301°) |
| Longitude | 81° 12' 25.23'' W (-81.207009°) |
| Elevation | 826.120361m |
| Time and Duration | |
|---|---|
| Local Date & Time | 2024-08-30 01:17 EDT |
| UT Date & Time | 2024-08-30 05:17 UT |
| Duration | ≈7.5s |
| Direction | |
|---|---|
| Moving direction | From up right to down left |
| Descent Angle | 240° |
| Moving | |
|---|---|
| Facing azimuth | 221.99° |
| First azimuth | 280.21° |
| First elevation | 35° |
| Last azimuth | 197.21° |
| Last elevation | 27° |
| Brightness and color | |
|---|---|
| Stellar Magnitude | -16 |
| Color | Purple, Green, Orange, Red |
| Concurrent Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Remarks | - |
| Delayed Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Remarks | - |
| Persistent train | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Duration | - |
| Length | - |
| Remarks | - |
| Terminal flash | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | Not very bright, but like a flash of flame, orange, green, and purple when it disintegrated. |
| Fragmentation | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | Through its entire path, the object seemed to have green, purple, orange, and yellow flames emanating in all directions. It dropped pieces that fell below it, starting parallel but arcing down and disappearing. There was also sparkling like electrical sparks or shiny flakes of metal that glowed and continuously flashed from the object and the fragments that broke away from it. This sparkling effect led me to believe it was a combination rock/metallic meteor. |