Reports Report 1494h (Event 1494-2015)

Observer
Name Erin S
Experience Level 1/5
Remarks My friends had gone inside of their apartment and I had been looking at the stars while waiting. Lately it seems like the nights haven't been clear enough enjoyably to see everything in the sky. I saw a very distinctive shooting star, above my friends' apartment. When one of them came outside, we were talking and behind her, I saw another one go past, but it wasn't as bright as the first. I told her that I haven't seen one since I was a little girl and now I had seen 2 within 10 minutes. When my friends' boyfriend came back outside, we were all looking up because of the shooting stars. We started showing my friends' boyfriend where the big dipper was. We had noticed that there were quite a few chem trails in the sky, but we hadn't seen a whole lot of airplanes going through, were the chem trails were. We frequently see airplanes that are headed towards Gary, IN and possibly Chicago. But the chem trails we saw, weren't in line with any of the airplane paths. Around the time that we saw the big flame of light come down, we had seen a couple of other light streaks, that looked like shooting stars. They were faint, but clear enough to notice. I can't think of anything else that would be beneficial. But what we saw, was nothing like I've ever seen before. I stayed up for a couple of hours, researching what it could have been. That is when I came across your article. I had to report this sighting. I am absolutely amazed by this experience. I have always fallen asleep before we've had meteor showers and I've always missed solar eclipses. I know the chances are probably slim, that I would ever get to see something like this again. That 10 seconds just wasn't long enough.
Location
Address Valparaiso, IN
Latitude 41° 29' 35.9'' N (41.493305°)
Longitude 87° 2' 13.21'' W (-87.037003°)
Elevation 248.223831m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time 2015-07-09 23:45 CDT
UT Date & Time 2015-07-10 04:45 UT
Duration ≈7.5s
Direction
Moving direction From up left to down right
Descent Angle 153°
Moving
Facing azimuth 90.95°
First azimuth 84.15°
First elevation 21°
Last azimuth 87.76°
Last elevation 15°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude -24
Color turquoise
Concurrent Sound
Observation No
Remarks -
Delayed Sound
Observation No
Remarks -
Persistent train
Observation No
Duration -
Length -
Remarks -
Terminal flash
Observation Yes
Remarks It had a small trail in the beginning...like a flare gun going off. Then it quickly took on a teardrop shape and became pretty big. I would compare it to maybe basketball sized at the end. Once it was tear drop shaped, there was a bright flash that was a bit blinding. I would say that it was consistently brighter than the moon at its brightest. It was bright enough for my friends and I to squint our eyes. One the flash ended, everything was completely gone. There weren't any fragments or trails of any kind. My friend even ducked because he thought that it was something that was coming down from the sky and was going to possibly hit us. We thought it might have been a flare or something. I am 100% sure that we never questioned it was a firework or anything. We were boggled because after the bright flash, we heard nothing and saw absolutely nothing. It was nothing like I've every seen.
Fragmentation
Observation No
Remarks -