Iridium Flares - who has seen one?
Discussion
Got all the times off heavens-above and had a look today but a little cloud in the sky.
Magnitude was -8 I think so how bright would that have been? There is another tomorrow which I think is -6 - is this going to be quite clear?
Having youtubed one they can be unbelievably clear but I guess that was a perfect on and a magnitude of -0.
If you are wondering what one is then google it but basically they are satellites which reflect light back to earth as they spin
Magnitude was -8 I think so how bright would that have been? There is another tomorrow which I think is -6 - is this going to be quite clear?
Having youtubed one they can be unbelievably clear but I guess that was a perfect on and a magnitude of -0.
If you are wondering what one is then google it but basically they are satellites which reflect light back to earth as they spin
Did you mean -9 rather than -0? With magnitude the lower the number the brighter it is. A full moon is magnitude -12.6 and the faintest star the eye can see is around +6. -8/-6 will easily be visible but Iridium flares are directed, so the further out of the focus point you are, the dimmer it will be.
I've seen a few. First time was at 41000ft over the North Sea one winter night when I used to co-pilot a corporate jet. We had the cockpit lights turned down to give a better view of the stars when I saw what looked like a very bright landing light grow and fade over a few seconds. Problem was, we were already at Flight Level Nosebleed and whatever it was was seemed to be directly above... I now know it was an Iridium Flare (I also saw a tumbling polar-orbit satellite/spent booster on that trip).
Heavens Above website works very well if you double-check the times (i.e. not confusing local with GMT) and use your iPhone or whatever to check the predicted bearing and have an idea of what the elevation should look like. As long as the predicted flare is of a decent magnitude you should see it. If you are close to the centre of the reflected ground track they can be astonishingly bright for a few seconds. I've even seen a particularly bright one in broad daylight.
Heavens Above website works very well if you double-check the times (i.e. not confusing local with GMT) and use your iPhone or whatever to check the predicted bearing and have an idea of what the elevation should look like. As long as the predicted flare is of a decent magnitude you should see it. If you are close to the centre of the reflected ground track they can be astonishingly bright for a few seconds. I've even seen a particularly bright one in broad daylight.
I think this may be what I just saw in the night sky over Bristol?
It was low in the sky heading across the horizon in a southerly direction and was visible for at least 5 seconds. It looked like a firework but obviously wasn't, for second I thought it might be a plane on fire it was so bright, it faded out for a second and then reappeared.
It was low in the sky heading across the horizon in a southerly direction and was visible for at least 5 seconds. It looked like a firework but obviously wasn't, for second I thought it might be a plane on fire it was so bright, it faded out for a second and then reappeared.
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