Reports Report 914j (Event 914-2010)
| Observer | |
|---|---|
| Name | Alan C |
| Experience Level | 1/5 |
| Remarks | If this was a planned event, and your colleagues have an image - or any further info, I\'d be interested in getting a copy. I was too busy wondering what was going on to take an image - and I was standing behind my camera, but too slow. Thank you. |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Address | Death Valley, CA |
| Latitude | 36° 39' 51.44'' N (36.664288°) |
| Longitude | 117° 34' 3.42'' W (-117.567616°) |
| Elevation | - |
| Time and Duration | |
|---|---|
| Local Date & Time | 2010-12-26 17:05 PST |
| UT Date & Time | 2010-12-27 01:05 UT |
| Duration | ≈8s |
| Direction | |
|---|---|
| Moving direction | From right to left |
| Descent Angle | 270° |
| Moving | |
|---|---|
| Facing azimuth | -1° |
| First azimuth | 310° |
| First elevation | 45° |
| Last azimuth | 100° |
| Last elevation | 30° |
| Brightness and color | |
|---|---|
| Stellar Magnitude | 1 |
| Color | white, blue, orange |
| Concurrent Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Remarks | - |
| Delayed Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Remarks | - |
| Persistent train | |
|---|---|
| Observation | No |
| Duration | 8s |
| Length | 13.5° |
| Remarks | There was a long white train behind the object of a consistent length. It was pitch-black with no moon. As the object passed from west to east I could clearly see the (it\\\'s hard to describe objectively) train which was mainly white and very bright - way brighter than the moon, but observable with the naked eye. As the object was passing in front of me, I could clearly see burning debris being pushed sideways from the front of the object. And then it just disappeared. My (untrained) guess it was at very high altitude, and what I witnessed was the object \\\'grazing\\\' on the high atmosphere, and then rapidly burning up on re-entry at high altitude? If you know what it was - I\\\'m guessing controlled/planned satellite burn up - or you have any images, I\\\'d love to get a copy as it was a ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE sight. Pitch-black sky, star-light, standing on the Playa and this things travels relatively sedately across in front of me!! Mind blowing..! |
| Terminal flash | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | This thing was spewing sparks/flames sideways as it went. |
| Fragmentation | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | - |