What did I just see?

[carlos_dfc]

Originally Posted by UB4 gardener

an irridium flare maybe?
Chris

The animation does look VERY like an iridium flare.
IFs do move - but quite slowly, and if the flare is short enough, it could well be that the very smalll motion would be imperceptible to the human eye.

Amoeba....
The 'Iridiums' are communications satellites which have reflective antenna arrays on the bottom - when the Sun catches one just right it can reflect down onto a part of the Earth which is still in darkness, very much like the way a watch-face can reflect a spot of light onto a wall.

They're very localised events - When you see one from your location, someone half a mile away will see a different brightness, or a different duration, or might be outside the 'spot' and not see the flare at all.
They can get VERY bright, even visible in daylight sometimes, and the yellow/orange colour as they fade in and out is pretty standard.

Check out Heavens-Above Home Page
Iridium flares are predictable, and quite reliable - enter your location as accurately as possible for best results (because of the 'local' nature of IFs)
I often predict them for my 5yo grand-daughter - she now genuinely thinks I'm 'magic'

[wizzo]

A dying star is just what it sounds like. I seen one many years ago and it's quite an amazing sight. It didn't last very long but was very bright indeed! Wizzo

[carlos_dfc]

Originally Posted by wizzo

A dying star is just what it sounds like.

Sorry wizzo - but dying stars don't go like that.
They die in two ways...
Up to 1.4 x the mass of our Sun, the go out as a planetary nebula
First of all the spend millions of years as a red-giant, then when they completely run out of fuel, the outer layers are cast off in pulses, creating slowly-expanding patterns of dust and gas, lit up by the ember of the star.
Any brightening during this process lasts for millennia.

If a star is above 1.4 solar masses (the Chandrasekhar limit) it goes off suddenly as a supernova - however, the word 'suddenly is relative.
It can take anything between 4hrs and a day to brighten to maximum, then takes weeks to months for it to fade back.

Two things can brighten and dim like that in a matter of seconds
A meteor - but they move fast
And a reflection from a satellite (known as a 'flare') these can last between a second or two, up to 20 seconds or so
Satellites move relatively slowly, so a short flare can appear to be stationary.

[animartco]

[quote=wizzo;724513]I'm no astromomer by any means, but could you have possibly witnessed the death of a star? Many years ago, I witnessed, 3 x three bright lights, that formed slow moving triangles. I'm convinced that these were not 'any known' objects. Anyway, I'm not at all sure that this is the correct forum for this anecdote! Wizzo [/QUOTE
Sorry I can't get to the beginning of the thread. I once saw a circle of what looked like around ten lights beyond low cloud. It rotated several times and then, all whished off in a line. I stood there stunned, and then it happened again! and again. Turned out to be a laser display shining through low cloud!

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by wizzo

A dying star is just what it sounds like. I seen one many years ago and it's quite an amazing sight.

Was it 2011 years ago, 'Wizzo'?

;^)

Jim

[artdemole]

Here is some thing that I missed as not checked lately on Heavens Above...Due to cloudy conditions...NANOSAIL-D Has UNFURLED It's SAIL (like a big kite) Visible passes can be checked the same way as ISS Click date of pass, then star chart will show the path.Could be possible you may have seen this going into it's orbit.