I've seen the maps of the apparent track of the meteor. while I understand light play and refraction, this meteor passed almost directly above me and appeared to fall withing 100' to my west. The meteor was traveling at very high speed from the east "looking almost straight up it came from a 10 o'clock position and seemed to decelerate quite rapidly after the "yellow flare" which happened at about the 11' o'clock position again while having my head looking almost straight up. then turning to a orange color at about the 1' o'clock position then appeared to have a fizzling sort of spark which turned to a reddish dull glow before falling at what seemed to be terminal velocity in the field to my west. I'm very confident to relatively certain that it landed within 100' from my position in an apple orchard field. I'm not sure that it matters but I'm an ex fireman who doesn't panic or get rattled. I marked the spot I last saw the object fall and even ventured into the woods to see if I could quickly locate it. I was driving my vehicle while seeing the event and thought power lines were arcing. i had to stick my head over my steering wheel and look directly up to see the event. I then stopped rapidly while tracking the downward trajectory... I know it sounds ridiculous but it seemed to be tracking downward on a very steep angle and could very well land on my vehicle.
Location
Address
Fenton, MI
Latitude
42° 47' 3.55'' N (42.78432°)
Longitude
83° 47' 10.79'' W (-83.78633°)
Elevation
286.293m
Time and Duration
Local Date & Time
2018-01-16 20:10 EST
UT Date & Time
2018-01-17 01:10 UT
Duration
≈3.5s
Direction
Moving direction
From down left to up right
Descent Angle
12°
Moving
Facing azimuth
186.08°
First azimuth
81.54°
First elevation
74°
Last azimuth
272.15°
Last elevation
3°
Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude
-23
Color
electric blue which turned yellow to orange to small fizzling sparks to a glowing red then dimmed
Concurrent Sound
Observation
No
Remarks
-
Delayed Sound
Observation
Yes
Remarks
there was a long delay, not sure of timing but seemed like more than 30 seconds then a rumble
Persistent train
Observation
No
Duration
-
Length
-
Remarks
-
Terminal flash
Observation
Yes
Remarks
the initial high intensity blue was similar to an electrical arc which turned yellow as a smaller "flare up" occurred as the color changed and the light intensity faded
