Fireball report

Reports Report 5450mz (Event 5450-2017)

Observer
Name	Sarah L
Experience Level	2/5
Remarks	I was trying to find something that resembled what I saw on the internet this week and I saw a picture that that someone had from that night. Where the object was far away and looked like a long shooting star, but what I had seen was huge, and close up and clearly on fire, like a metor , fireball. If I had to describe how big the object was, I would have to say it was probably the size of the moon; how it appears in the sky, but on the horizon, moving, and on fire with a huge blazing fire trail. It was so close that it looked like it could of just landed in the area we saw it.(but knowing things that appear in our sky are probably alot further then we think, so that's probably not the case) but I just wanted to give detail of how close it looked. I've seen a shooting star twice before, this was not even close in size . The shooting stars I had seen were just little blips, but amazing of course. This was clearly on fire. There was no mistaken it for an airplane or a shooting star, it was something on fire that was on the horizon and looked like it was heading towards the ground. I also saw about 2 or 3 seconds later, a little piece fall off of the fireball... Do you know when it is really hot out, and you see a blurry haze area rising close to the pavement? Well when the piece that broke off and went at a slightly different direction , it looked like lava(but clearly solid ) , it almost had that blurry haze coming off of it like you would see off of pavement on a hot summer day. I was in the passenger seat of the car when we were driving and saw the object on fire. I saw it out of the corner of the windshield.I was so amazed and excited I freeked out and squealed and pointed,and my friend looked and saw it to, I made sure I asked if she was seeing the exact same thing I was ,it was that amazing I had to double check ! But I would have to say it lasted maybe 5 or 6 seconds give or take. I was just so excited I didn't focus on how long it lasted or the exact time, just was focusing on what an amazing site I was seeing. The seconds of the fire ball , exactly and the time, exactly might be off alittle, but barely. I called my mom on the phone at 5:56 pm so it was a minute or two before that time, give or take. I also told my friends brother who was meeting us at the store, and he said he saw it to, but I'm not sure where he was exactly.

Location
Address	Tyngsborough, MA
Latitude	42° 41' 24.55'' N (42.690153°)
Longitude	71° 25' 59.59'' W (-71.43322°)
Elevation	36.487m

Time and Duration
Local Date & Time	2017-12-26 17:54 EST
UT Date & Time	2017-12-26 22:54 UT
Duration	≈7.5s

Direction
Moving direction	From up left to down right
Descent Angle	112°

Moving
Facing azimuth	336.42°
First azimuth	355.44°
First elevation	10°
Last azimuth	1.33°
Last elevation	4°

Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude	-27
Color	Orange, Yellow, Red

Concurrent Sound
Observation	No
Remarks	-

Delayed Sound
Observation	No
Remarks	-

Persistent train
Observation	Unknown
Duration	-
Length	-
Remarks	-

Terminal flash
Observation	Unknown
Remarks	-

Fragmentation
Observation	Yes
Remarks	It was glowing like a big ball on fire about to land,(probably wasn't though) but that is how close it was . It had a bunch of different colors of red ,orange and yellow, the bright yellow orange, was the main thing on fire, the rest was the trail of fire you could see both orange and then really red, and then as it got almost to the horizon a piece of the rock on fire(or whatever it was) flew off in a slightly different angle that the fireball like rock, was going. It looked like lava flying off of it that's how the color looked but you could tell it was a pice of whatever it was coming off.

Fragmentation

Observation

Yes

Remarks

It was glowing like a big ball on fire about to land,(probably wasn't though) but that is how close it was . It had a bunch of different colors of red ,orange and yellow, the bright yellow orange, was the main thing on fire, the rest was the trail of fire you could see both orange and then really red, and then as it got almost to the horizon a piece of the rock on fire(or whatever it was) flew off in a slightly different angle that the fireball like rock, was going. It looked like lava flying off of it that's how the color looked but you could tell it was a pice of whatever it was coming off.