Reports Report 168apa (Event 168-2018)
| Observer | |
|---|---|
| Name | Christopher L |
| Experience Level | 3/5 |
| Remarks | It was the most unusual experience of my life to date. Interestingly enough is that my father and I experienced it together; yet he actually “sensed” it before the intense flash of light. He best described the sensation as the low sound and feeling of of static electric hum. He and I were walking together and I noticed he became alerted, paused and cocked his head slightly. The flash of light followed immediately after he had paused. The intensity of the flash was so bright that the night overcast sky illuminated as if we were standing in broad daylight, lasting though only for about ~0.5 of a second. A incredibly quick ending of day brightness was concluded by what I can best describe as quickly changing phased light color from faint indigo blue to deeper indigo purple to burning orange dusky orche orange which lasted ~0.25 of a second. The streak illuminated after the flash and went down almost directly ahead of us and the sky returned to dark overcast clouds. The boom sound followed ~60 seconds after the visual, but, truthfully my accuracy of time perception was probably affected by an adrenal dopamine dump caused by the stimulus of such an incredibly weird personal experience. |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Address | Ypsilanti, MI |
| Latitude | 42° 14' 54.33'' N (42.248426°) |
| Longitude | 83° 38' 29.12'' W (-83.641422°) |
| Elevation | 238.412231m |
| Time and Duration | |
|---|---|
| Local Date & Time | 2018-01-16 20:11 EST |
| UT Date & Time | 2018-01-17 01:11 UT |
| Duration | ≈1.5s |
| Direction | |
|---|---|
| Moving direction | From up right to down left |
| Descent Angle | 192° |
| Moving | |
|---|---|
| Facing azimuth | 348° |
| First azimuth | 1.29° |
| First elevation | 32° |
| Last azimuth | 335° |
| Last elevation | 10° |
| Brightness and color | |
|---|---|
| Stellar Magnitude | -26 |
| Color | Orange, Ochre |
| Concurrent Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Remarks | - |
| Delayed Sound | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | Approximately ~60 seconds following visual event there was a large deep boom, that of an explosion in the distance and direction of the orange and ochre fireball streak, which immediately continued from the initial boom as a series of four or five consecutively connected smaller booms. Very shortly after the large deep boom was what sounded much like a similar but shorter pop or a crackle of lower intensity; much like a resounding reverb echo. Then silence. Best I can describe. Super weird experience. |
| Persistent train | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Unknown |
| Duration | - |
| Length | - |
| Remarks | - |
| Terminal flash | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | Bright orange and ochre flash just above the horizon following the streak. |
| Fragmentation | |
|---|---|
| Observation | Yes |
| Remarks | Perhaps. The streak was not solid but broke from glowing brightly to darkness and back to glowing brightly again, maybe three or four times from bright to dark. It happened very very quickly, ~0.5 of a second. It looked similar to that of an irregular dashed line - an alternating orange and dark sparkling streak. |