I have seen rockets and thousands of shooting stars as well as small meteor showers and I have never experienced anything like this in my life. It was truly magnificent. The lingering light of the smoke was apparent for a mysterious amount of time. It looked to be high enough and it was close enough to dusk that it may have been lit by the sun still at that altitude. The smoke did waft slowly over time.
Location
Address
Wellton, AZ
Latitude
32° 39' 26.4'' N (32.657334°)
Longitude
114° 9' 42.01'' W (-114.16167°)
Elevation
78.761971m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2024-03-18 19:31 MST
UT Date & Time
2024-03-19 02:31 UT
Duration
>60s
Direction
Moving direction
From up right to down left
Descent Angle
265°
Moving
Facing azimuth
258.56°
First azimuth
289.28°
First elevation
30°
Last azimuth
184.93°
Last elevation
20°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
-7
Color
White
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Persistent train
Observation
Yes
Duration
99.99s
Length
99.99°
Remarks
It was a white trail that started small and linear but grew to be fat. In the middle it appeared to have three dimensions. There were two fragments that branched off halfway. The smoke remained fat and glowing white until the very end. The glow stayed visible for more than 10 minutes.
Terminal flash
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Fragmentation
Observation
Yes
Remarks
There was not a flash. The glowing meteor looked to be ahead of the smoke by about 2x the width of the meteor. There were two fragments that fell off and had their own trail but lasted left than 10 seconds.
