What did I just see?

[dieter4773]

at around 8:30 pm tonight, while gazing out at the night sky, I noticed something I've never seen before. Hardly any stars were visible at the time. In the course of only about 30 seconds, a random star-like object appeared..and expanded in bright purely white light, about maybe twice the size of any star I've seen before. As it appeared to be expanding, the object suddenly faded away to nothing once again..all in the same time it took to expand. What did I experience???

 

[Boris_Badenov]

Sounds like an Iridium Flare.

http://www.satobs.org/iridium.html

Check your location on this site & see if you can find an Iridium Flare for your area at that time.

http://www.heavens-above.com/