We were on 2700 foot Mt. Magazine over looking the PetiJean river valley. We could see the trajectory in enough detail to that we went to the lodge for a better view of the valley to see if we could see any fire on the ground. We were literately looking up the tail of the entry. It is very dry and it was possible to tell where it was heading. Altitude of the explosion was difficult to estimate but I would guess 30,000 feet and probably lower. We believed it was going to strike the ground near us until it exploded.
Location
Address
State Park, AR
Latitude
35° 9' 58.68'' N (35.166301°)
Longitude
93° 38' 15.63'' W (-93.637676°)
Elevation
-
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2011-07-30 22:15 CDT
UT Date & Time
2011-07-31 03:15 UT
Duration
≈3.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From up to down
Descent Angle
180°
Moving
Facing azimuth
262.60231°
First azimuth
256.67641°
First elevation
88°
Last azimuth
263.04806°
Last elevation
88°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
-7
Color
blue to white
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
There was too much noise to hear any associated sound.
Persistent train
Observation
No
Duration
-1s
Length
10°
Remarks
It was a glowing train. During the first 2 seconds I thought it was coming directly toward us. We were basically lookiing up the length of the train until the meteor exploded. It appeared to come stright down and just slightly West and South of our location. The fire ball was large and appeared to have about 6 black spots in the explosion.
Terminal flash
Observation
Yes
Remarks
The flash appeared to be an explosion. There were approximately 6 black spots visible at the time of the explosion which appeared to move both down and outward to about 30 degrees. It came almost stright down but was probably moving slightly West to East from vertical. The explosion was mostly white with some tinges of blue and yellow. There was too much noise to hear any sound.
