Posted on 03/23/2013 8:36:32 PM PDT by CapnJack
Did anybody else here happen to be looking into the north sky and see a star get really bright and then just wink out???
I was standing on my back deck having a cigar and looking up at the north by northeast sky and was looking at a patch of sky (the night sky is very clear tonight here in NH) and saw a star twinkle for a second or two, then it got really bright, brighter than any other star out tonight. Then it just winked out and was gone.
If you looked up and find the Big Dipper and and draw a line between the last star on the handle and the North Star, then go to the 1/2 point on the line and then go down about 1/3 the distance of the line on a 90 degree angle ... that is where the star was.
Just wondering if anyone else just happend to be looking up at the sky tonight.
Airplanes aren’t stationary!
It looked like a street light going pop! Amazing
But they appear so if they are coming straight at you.
I remember having a computer program a decade ago that would tell when you could see these from your current location:
http://www.satobs.org/iridium.html
“With only a normal brightness of +6 magnitude (binoculars are useful to spot it), occasionally some of the Iridium satellites provide reflective flares/glints of magnitude (-)8. For comparison, Venus can be as bright as magnitude (-)4.9, thus reflections can be up to 30 times brighter than Venus. The flares/glints can last anywhere from 5 to 20 seconds before the satellite once again becomes almost invisible to the naked eye. Some flares have been observed during the daylight hours which is very unusual for reflective glares from satellites. Knowing where to look to observe these flares during the daylight hours is essential.”
Did you see the same thing as CapnJack? What direction in the night sky?
Try the website heavens-above.com. They have times for satellites and iridium flares going over your area. You do have to register with your co-ordinates for accurate times and placement.
Probably a flying pig due to the Senate actually passing a budget.
If it doesn’t go out I suggest moving fast!
That’s just the new spy drone assigned to you. Don’t worry, its from the government and is there to help (control) you.
I been watching Sirius, it’s been flashing some funky reds & greens. I never seen a star do green before. The other bright stars in the area weren’t doing anything unusual.
I am wondering if its little friend is going to go Nova soon.
Nonsense. You can make an airplane out of stationery.
Nope, I missed it...
Iridium is a now defunct* communications company that was planning on orbiting 77 communications satellites in low earth orbit, (77 is the number of electrons an atom of the element iridium has)
The idea was no part of earth, no matter how remote would be out of sight of an Iridium satellite, and the satellites could interconnect your signal to any other point on earth.
Because they are in LEO, there is none of the time lag associated with geosynchronous communications satellites.
The Iridium satellites have huge flat solar power panels that at predictable times and places will act like a mirror and produce a bright flash in the early evening or pre-dawn sky.
There is a web site that tells you when to look.
* Iridium is apparently alive as a company again.
I agree.
iridium flash
I’ve seen it myself. You get a brief sun reflection off the solar panels of one of the Iridiam satellites. It happens a few hours after sunset. It was very disturbing to me until I found out what it was.
One by one the stars would all go out...
I don’t know what you saw, but I bet your wife won’t let you smoke cigars inside.
Drudge has a news flash about meteors from your area down to Florida.
If it was coming in directly at you, it would sincerely appear as a Nova.
I can see Romulus from my house
north, I’m not good with constellations
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