Event: 20181116-032155


Over one hundred eyewitness reports have been received of a bright fireball occurring over central Texas at 9:22 PM Central Standard Time (2018 November 16 3:22 UTC). The information in these accounts has been combined with data from 3 all sky video cameras, 2 operated by amateur observatories (Stellar Skies Observatory and Cosmic Obsession Observatory) and a NASA camera located in New Mexico. Duration data from a dashcam video posted on YouTube was also used to help constrain the duration/speed. The results show that the object began to ablate at an altitude of 54 miles above San Marcos, moving due west at 49,000 miles per hour. It ablated 23 miles above Lazy R&R Cove, on the northwest edge of Canyon Lake. The radiant and orbit of the object are consistent with this meteor being a member of the currently active North Taurid meteor shower, while the brightness (about twice that of the First Quarter Moon) suggests that the fireball was caused by a fragment of Comet Encke about a foot in diameter and weighting 40 pounds.


Event Data

Event ID 20181116-032155
Date (UTC) Nov. 16, 2018
Time (UTC) 03:21:55
AMS Event 4922-2018
Size 1 foot
Origin Comet Encke
Chicken Little Start Lat/Lon +29.936, -97.929
Chicken Little End Lat/Lon +29.956, -98.382
Chicken Little Altitude 87.0 km → 37.0 km ( 54.1 miles→ 23.0 miles)
Chicken Little Speed 22.3 km/s (49,900 mph)