Event: 20190208-011534


60 members of the public reported seeing a fireball over Colorado at 6:13 PM Mountain Standard Time (2019 February 8 01:13 UTC). Images of the meteor show that it is noticeably dimmer than the nearby crescent moon.

This event produced a train of reflective dust particles that remained in the atmosphere after the meteor itself ended. Upper atmospheric winds then distorted this train, making it look like a twisted wisp of smoke. Multiple images of the meteor and the train have been posted to the American Meteor Society website.3

An analysis of the eyewitness accounts indicates that the meteor first became visible at an altitude of 67 miles a few miles northeast of the community of Granite, Colorado. It then moved almost due west and steeply downward over U.S. Route 24 at a speed of 38,000 miles per hour. It covered a ground distance of about 7 miles before breaking apart at an altitude of 33 miles over the easternmost Twin Lake.


Event Data

Event ID 20190208-011534
Date (UTC) Feb. 8, 2019
Time (UTC) 01:15:34
AMS Event 643-2019
Chicken Little Start Lat/Lon +39.092, -106.199
Chicken Little End Lat/Lon +39.088, -106.320
Chicken Little Altitude 107.8 km → 52.4 km ( 67.0 miles→ 32.6 miles)
Chicken Little Speed 16.8 km/s (37,600 mph)