I just saw a very unusual shooting star!

[Amoeba]

At least, I think it was unusual... never seen one before tonight, lol.

I'm in Edinburgh and in the sky it was almost directly South (veeery slightly West) and roughly about 45 degrees from the horizon in the sky at between 19:15-19.20 PM this evening.

It was a very large bright ball of light, bright white in the middle with a sky blue "corona", left no tail or streak, it could be seen in total for about 0.5 of a second - began as a flash (I guess it ignited in the atmosphere?) and travelled abut (if the path it travelled across was parallel to the axis of measurement of the circumference of the sky, if the sky was a sphere surrounding us) 20-30 degrees across the sky (towards about South South West), before gradually fading out.

I was very lucky to get a full clear view of it at just the right time. It was very large. You know airplane lights when they are reasonably low down? Magnify that light level by about 2-3 times. It was bright enough to be seen that brightly through around 45% opacity clouds.

(all figures are rough estimates. I cannot be certain with no video footage to measure by)

Does anybody know if there is a particular name for this type of shooting star, and what kind of material it could have been that burned up to give that kind of glow? I am used to seeing in video footage and in movies these streaks that are like a line or an orange flame rather than a rounded ball of light.

[Doggle Avaddit]

I saw that too at the same time!!! It was partly cloudy so I was just catching various glimpses. It was big. (I am in Leeds).



A while ago I witnessed the Interrnational Space Station with the Shuttle attatched pass overhead. This looked rather similar and I guessed was either the ISS or some other large sattelite. I meant to look it up in Heavens Above to see what it might have been, but havent so far.

[Doggle Avaddit]

Well it looks like it was an Iridium Flare.

Iridium flares


3rd one down, Iridium 22.

[Amoeba]

Whoa... they travel that fast? I've never seen anything travel in the sky so fast, not even low-flying fighter jets. I'd imagine something that high up would be much slower?

Not saying you're wrong, I just still don't understand why it was so fast shooting across the sky... like a meteorite or a rocket. There and gone in 0.5 seconds at most.

[Doggle Avaddit]

Originally Posted by Amoeba

Whoa... they travel that fast? Seriously this thing was like a rocket.

Well, I've just plugged the Edinburg co-ordinates into the Heavens Above site to find there were no Iridium Flares over Edinburgh yesterday evening. Seems Iridium Flares are particularly localised events.


I probably saw Iridium22, you must have seen something else! Sattelites definately don't zoom across the sky like a rocket.

[Amoeba]

Lol it was this evening not yesterday. In that case it does coincide but, as you say, it was just too fast to be a satellite. What exactly did you see, just for comparison? There might have been some weird atmospheric angle illusions going on, though it was so crisp clear I doubt it. Still best to rule out the most likely explanations though before going for more unlikely ones.

I'm pretty convinced it was some kind of very bright meteor, if it was not the satellite. I heard they can sometimes not leave a visible trail or tail, and just be a ball of bright light (dunno about blue though). I can't remember where I read that though and I can't be 100% sure I even did read that.

EDIT: Oh I just see what you mean now, that site shows it to be the 11th, not the 12th. Well then, that is strange, it could not have been the satellite as you say.

[nytecam]

Definitely not a 'slow' Iridium satellite - forward your initial report to Meteor Section of British Astronomical Association

[Amoeba]

I can't seem to find a contact anywhere...

[Doggle Avaddit]

Originally Posted by Amoeba

Lol it was this evening not yesterday. In that case it does coincide but, as you say, it was just too fast to be a satellite. What exactly did you see, just for comparison? There might have been some weird atmospheric angle illusions going on, though it was so crisp clear I doubt it. Still best to rule out the most likely explanations though before going for more unlikely ones.

I'm pretty convinced it was some kind of very bright meteor, if it was not the satellite. I heard they can sometimes not leave a visible trail or tail, and just be a ball of bright light (dunno about blue though). I can't remember where I read that though and I can't be 100% sure I even did read that.

EDIT: Oh I just see what you mean now, that site shows it to be the 11th, not the 12th. Well then, that is strange, it could not have been the satellite as you say.

Oops, sorry, my fault, I took your sighting to be last night!

You might have been able to see the ISS tonight at 7.30pm, but in the direction WSW.

ISS - Visible Passes


But again, it wouldn't have looked at all like a rocket.




Correction: It would actually be brightest due South at 7.33pm.

[Amoeba]

I did see a faint bluish glowing shadow falling down beneath it as it was going by - could be fragments, if it is a meteor it could be evidence of it breaking up?