Fireball report

Reports Report 5352d (Event 5352-2018)

Observer
Name	Bobbie J
Experience Level	2/5
Remarks	I am a disabled retired school teacher living in Santa Rosa, CA 95401-and I can barely leave my home anymore due to my medical condition--but i happened to amble out to walk with my cat just after 10pm. At around 10:20 pm on Dec 2, 2018..I happened to be slowing walking in a Southern direction--my cat had stopped following me-so i turned around to see why. When I turned back around--toward the South--a bright light caught my eye. I looked up just a bit, and just in time to see this fireball doing a nosedive quite close toward the earth and becoming very bright --the head was like the size of a bi-plane if it had been on fire and crashing/nosediving. It also had a round much smaller firey ball also as a tail-but not the typical trail of a tail that you see--maybe due to the angle?? Cuz, it was almost a NOSE DIVE to toward earth. Only lasted 1-2 seconds it that. I was amazed!!!! Star struck! I'm age 61 and immediately contacted my old friend, John Whitehouse on Facebook, who heads the astronomy society in our county of Sonoma-to confirm what i saw. He immediately answered that I had seen a large meteor. I knew he would want to know what i had seen/witnessed, tho we have not talked in years..he once was a good friend. What are the chances of a disabled woman, who barely leaves my house, seeing this on the 1st night of Hanukkah? "the festival of light"--I did not realize the significance of this until later. Wow!

Location
Address	, CA
Latitude	38° 10' 59.62'' N (38.183228°)
Longitude	121° 45' 36.62'' W (-121.760173°)
Elevation	31.612734m

Time and Duration
Local Date & Time	2018-12-02 22:20 PST
UT Date & Time	2018-12-03 06:20 UT
Duration	≈1.5s

Direction
Moving direction	From down left to up right
Descent Angle	7°

Moving
Facing azimuth	13.91°
First azimuth	15.51°
First elevation	20°
Last azimuth	29.15°
Last elevation	16°

Brightness and color
Stellar Magnitude	-26
Color	Yellow

Concurrent Sound
Observation	No
Remarks	-

Delayed Sound
Observation	No
Remarks	-

Persistent train
Observation	Unknown
Duration	-
Length	-
Remarks	-

Terminal flash
Observation	Yes
Remarks	The fireball was doing almost a complete nosedive toward earth. The part closest to earth was go bigger--like size of a bi-plane if it was on fire maybe? and there was a tail ball that was much smaller but also very bright as the head of the fireball expanded before disappearing. It seemed very close to earth. I kept waiting for a crash sound-but there was none. I was north of Hwy 12 and stony point looking south. It was close to me. Fireball seemed to land South of Hwy 12 in Santa Rosa and a bit West of Stony Point Rd--if it could have landed, and not burnt out. It was HUGE!

Terminal flash

Observation

Yes

Remarks

The fireball was doing almost a complete nosedive toward earth. The part closest to earth was go bigger--like size of a bi-plane if it was on fire maybe? and there was a tail ball that was much smaller but also very bright as the head of the fireball expanded before disappearing. It seemed very close to earth. I kept waiting for a crash sound-but there was none. I was north of Hwy 12 and stony point looking south. It was close to me. Fireball seemed to land South of Hwy 12 in Santa Rosa and a bit West of Stony Point Rd--if it could have landed, and not burnt out. It was HUGE!

Fragmentation
Observation	Unknown
Remarks	-