Meteor or space debris entry

Submitted by Kirsah t3_yixxg6 in space

I was hanging out with an infantry squad in Arizona (set up in an OP), laying on my back and watching the stars when the brightest meteor/satellite entry I’ve ever seen flashed by. This was approximately 3:23-3:24am Pacific time.

It lit up the sky like a spot light. The trail was unusually long lasting and then started to collapse on itself until it was more cloud looking.

I wish I had thought to pull my phone out quicker but I got an image of it as it started to contract. This was 20-30 seconds after the main event. I’ve been watching the sky because it easy to see the stars out here and there have been a ton of meteors over the last week or so.

https://i.imgur.com/l2MN4W4.jpg

More collapsed

https://i.imgur.com/dophNV7.jpg

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Hattix t1_iuln0ru wrote

That would be a meteor, from your description bright enough to be a fireball. Space debris doesn't often leave lasting trails and it moves a lot more slowly.

Report it to AMS, so they can correlate sightings and give you info like this.

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Kwiatkowski t1_iulwfbx wrote

Absolutely a meteor. The speed is the big tell, nearly all man made space junk is gonna enter around the speed (to the eye) that the ISS moves at. Sure some junk may move faster if it’s like a booster from a GTO orbit but that’s rare.

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