NUFORC Sighting 93769

Occurred: 2012-10-19 19:15 Local
Reported: 2012-10-21 21:30 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute
No of observers: 3

Location: Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Shape: Fireball

Meteor-like object broke up into three pieces then a bright light appeared where it ended it's travel.

Driving west out of Santa Barbara towards Santa Ynez along Lake Cachuma, my two kids, 10 and 6 yrs of age, and I witnessed what initially appeared as a meteor which started at twenty five degrees of elevation in the west and traveled toward the northern horizon. It travelled slower than all other meteors that I have seen. Approximately thirty degrees of sky were traveled in eight or ten seconds. Toward the end of travel the object broke into three pieces of white light and extinguished. Within a few seconds a light of magnitude -4 (like Venus) appeared in the vicinity of the extinguishing point of the meteor-like object and remained stationary. This light disappeared after fifteen seconds or so and a flashing light of magnitude 2 (like Mercury) appeared five degrees above the brighter light location. This light disappeared after ten seconds.

Having grown up in the Davenport, Washington area myself; High Five to Peter Davenport!

Posted 2012-10-30