The last response describes back yard curiosity star gazing with my brothers growing up in Montana. I vividly recall my brother pointing out Sputnik moving across the sky. Tonight was a good experience. Enjoyed it.
Location
Address
Vashon, WA
Latitude
47° 30' 8.71'' N (47.50242°)
Longitude
122° 28' 13.7'' W (-122.470473°)
Elevation
93.538635m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2025-09-08 23:40 PDT
UT Date & Time
2025-09-09 06:40 UT
Duration
≈7.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From up right to down left
Descent Angle
263°
Moving
Facing azimuth
163.79°
First azimuth
120.1°
First elevation
40°
Last azimuth
356.65°
Last elevation
23°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
-23
Color
Pink, Yellow, White
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Persistent train
Observation
No
Duration
-
Length
-
Remarks
-
Terminal flash
Observation
Yes
Remarks
A second burst followed the larger first burst of light across the sky. Then the lead burst broke apart into multiple fragments and the following smaller burst exploded too and disappeared. I watched the explosions of multiple tinier pieces within the span of 2 seconds. Was amazing.
Fragmentation
Observation
Yes
Remarks
Described above. Two primary brilliant lights shooting across the full moon glow sky. Thick tails of sparks follow them both. The first one explodes and then the second one does the same thing. Lots of tiny explosions follow the same arc. It was sparkly and my memory says it was colorful.
