Reports Report 3068z (Event 3068-2017)
| Observer | |
|---|---|
| Name | Matt F |
| Experience Level | 1/5 |
| Remarks | I don't know much about astronomy. I've seen shooting stars before. I've seen the ISS. I've seen the shuttle shoot past 20-some years ago. This was nothing like that. This was enormous. By far the biggest non-moon thing in the sky. Maybe 1/4 the size of the moon? Hard to say with it being so low and my brain ignoring it at first as an airplane landing at night. When it blew up to the west, the spatter it made was perhaps 3-4 times the diameter of the moon. Was over so fast, wish I'd had a dash cam. This is only a mile or two north of the city of Calgary which is 1.3 million people, with the airport on the north end near where I was, and a huge mall on the highway straight east of me. Chances are some security cameras caught it. I'm fuzzy on when it first appeared in my vision because I ignored it, but I was paying attention when it exploded. |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Address | Airdrie, Alberta (CA) |
| Latitude | 51° 14' 16.02'' N (51.237784°) |
| Longitude | 114° 1' 29.56'' W (-114.024877°) |
| Elevation | 1101.42m |
| Time and Duration | |
|---|---|
| Local Date & Time | 2017-09-04 23:10 MDT |
| UT Date & Time | 2017-09-05 05:10 UT |
| Duration | ≈1.5s |
| Direction | |
|---|---|
| Moving direction | From left to right |
| Descent Angle | 90° |
| Moving | |
|---|---|
| Facing azimuth | 180° |
| First azimuth | 144.16° |
| First elevation | 39° |
| Last azimuth | 256.17° |
| Last elevation | 23° |
| Brightness and color | |
|---|---|
| Stellar Magnitude | -18 |
| Color | Orange, Yellow, Red, White |
| Concurrent Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | - |
| Delayed Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | - |
| Persistent train | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Duration | - |
| Length | - |
| Remarks | - |
| Terminal flash | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | White/Yellow blob, fast, almost mistook for a low airplane since the airport is nearby, but much too fast. A sharp white flash and it broke up into maybe 7-15 red chunks, of those maybe 2-5 were sizeable ones. The spatter was in a 90-120 degree arc to the west. Hard to say, from when I saw it to when it was over was only 1-2 seconds. I thought "I bet someone will wish I knew the exact time" and checked the clock on the dash and then verified it against my phone. |
| Fragmentation | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | As above. |