Unusual bright flashing in the sky! Can anyone explain?

[averagejoe]

I was stargazing with my girlfriend and brother tonight about 2300h. What we saw was very unexpected, and while I'm no expert at astronomy, I was incredibly surprised at what we all saw. I was thinking maybe someone here can help explain this for me. <br /><br />At 49*N, we were looking straight up. We could see the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. While watching, we saw a number of +3 magnitude satellites as well as one Iridium flash about magnitude -4. The thing that was astounding to us was bright flashing in the empty space between stars in Cygnus, Lyra, as well as in the space between the Big Dipper and Polaris. I estimate these flashes ranged from magnitude -2 to +2.<br /><br />They were not satellites. I've seen satellites, meteors, and such. I know there's the Delta Aquarid meteor shower going on. But these things flashed like supernovae out of nowhere. For the brief milliseconds they appeared, they looked just like the stars around them. In each of these locations, we saw between one and three bright flashes. The oddest was the first event we saw, which was around the constellation Draco, where two flashes (~ mag 0) was followed by another flash (~ mag +2) just NE of it! None of these events seemed to be in any kind of noticeable pattern. <br /><br />I tried to capture one of these with my digital camera's camcorder function, but did not succeed as we didn't see any more. We saw, only in that part of the sky, about 5 such events in the course of 15 minutes. We're totally stumped as to what it might be. Can anyone help? Thanks!

 

[jimmysvibing]

I saw one such event on 7/17 at 2am, EST, high in the NE sky. I posted the question, "dimming star...did you see it?" and received a few posts. The iridium flare made sense, but as I had posted, the event seemed to be beyond our atmosphere and in deep space like you had described. I thought "supernova", maybe. Anyway, I'm very glad to hear I wasn't the only one who saw this.

 

[averagejoe]

I'm quite sure it wasn't an Iridium flare as we saw one that night, and from the Iridium flares that I've seen, they move as satellites do. The event we saw was like yours, Jimmy, but lasted only milliseconds. We thought supernovae and gamma-ray burst because of its quick and bright flash -- but I suppose GRB like those would've wiped us out of existence moments after seeing the flash. <br /><br />The objects were yellowish and bluish in colour like the stars around them. The brighter ones were yellowish. <br /><br />We saw it on 7/28 at 11pm PST also in the NE sky, if it might be of reference to anyone.

 

[tom_hobbes]

You might be interested in this account by an astronomer.<br /><br /><font color="yellow">This phenomena will be detailed in a series of notes taken by others and myself that have seen it.<br /><br />I wrote the following just after the event on 08-12-85.<br /><br /> Fisk Knob. 08-12-85; 00:00 EDT. Observing Perseid meteors. Strange phenomenon observed near Draco/Ursa Major border: Resembles head-on point meteor, but repeats; each flash lasting about one second. Bob Cash announced the first two sightings and pointed out the area. I counted three of my own afterward, bringing the total to five. Flashes had no apparent pattern but the last two appeared to twinkle noticeably and I detected movement as well. Cash reported a similar observation during the 1983 Perseid shower.</font><br /><br />http://www.stargazing.net/kevin/phenomena.htm <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#339966"> I wish I could remember<br /> But my selective memory<br /> Won't let me</font><font size="2" color="#99cc00"> </font><font size="3" color="#339966"><font size="2">- </font></font><font size="1" color="#339966">Mark Oliver Everett</font></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[averagejoe]

Yes, this phenomena fits the description of what I saw. Thanks a lot! Do you know if there is anything new on this since that 1988 issue?

 

[tom_hobbes]

No, I just came across it and it rang bells. Same general region of the sky as well and observed by another solid astronomer, not given to flights of fancy.<br /><br />I have to say I'm rather intrigued. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#339966"> I wish I could remember<br /> But my selective memory<br /> Won't let me</font><font size="2" color="#99cc00"> </font><font size="3" color="#339966"><font size="2">- </font></font><font size="1" color="#339966">Mark Oliver Everett</font></p><p> </p> </div>

 

[cluelessnewbie]

I'd like to add that I've seen this sort of phenomena about ten years ago. Small, pinpoint red flashes that flickered out in only a few seconds. There were dozens of these in a patch of sky about the size of a quarter held at arms length. It moved across the sky and lasted about minute or two, petering out at the end. I couldn't tell you the exact location since this was in the daytime sky! I always assumed it was some kind of meteor shower, perhaps a stream of them coming in head-on. Even when I studied astro in college no one took me seriously about it though. Glad to see I'm not crazy.