Did anyone else see a bright flash in the sky?

[bongina]

Viewed from Columbia, SC, it was in the eastern sky, about mid-way up. I only saw it for a few seconds, so I could not zero in on it. It happened around 8 PM on Sunday, 3-14-05. The flash looked like a bright orange star, then it quickly began to dim until it dissapeared. What is odd is that it did not move or have a tail, unlike several meteors that I saw burn up.

 

[CalliArcale]

It may have been a meteor that was travelling directly towards you. Those appear just as points. <br /><br />To visualize why, pick up a pencil. It is long and thin, right? Just like the streaks of light that meteors leave as they vaporize. Now turn it so that you are looking at its eraser end-on. All you can see is the eraser, and the pencil looks like a little round pink thing. An end-on meteor is like that. They're usually much harder to spot, of course. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

Just God playing with his new camera. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[claywoman]

I believe a bright flash was seen here in N. California Sunday night also. Still no word of what it was.

 

[bongina]

It lasted for at least 5 seconds, then dimmed over another 2-3 seconds, until it was completely gone. I though it may have been a meteor, too, although what is the chance that it was heading directly at me?

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I though it may have been a meteor, too, although what is the chance that it was heading directly at me?<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Better than you might think. Meteors enter the atmosphere in all directions (though there should be some preference for them entering from the Earth's direction of travel, as it sweeps into their path). And of course people can be observing them from anywhere on Earth relative to their path of travel. It's not really all that unusual for one to be travelling dead-on towards you. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[alpha_taur1]

Iridium flashes can be quite bright (Magnitude -8), but generally they appear to be moving quite fast, and you can still see a duller moving point before and after the flash itself. <br /><br />Could be. I've seen quite a few of them, and they are quite spectacular at times.