WHAT THE?? I'm a newbie

[dirtbag53]

This will sound vey dumb... Sitting in my hot tub at around 6:15 am on Oct 2nd, looking directly south (In Jemez Springs New Mexico) I was looking at a couple of stars dirtectly south, at about 45degrees. One was Extremely bright the other was not as bright but suddenly it starting shining very, very bright. I've never seen anything like it in my life. It kept getting bright for a few seconds then it completely disapeared. As I mentioned, it was early in the morning, the sun was not up yet but there was afaint blue in the easteren horizon. I live in Jemez Mountains in a canyon where my house does not get the sun until 8 am or so this time of the year. What the heck did I see?

 

[vogon13]

Iridium flash.<br /><br />Google it and find out how to see it again. They're cool. You can impress your friends with it too.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[Saiph]

Sounds like an iridium flash, especially if it was moving.<br /><br />The best part is acting like you "made" it happen using the heavens-above website, a good watch, and some gullible friends. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[kmarinas86]

Here it is. Due south.<br /><br />http://www.heavens-above.com/iridium.asp?lat=35.084&lng=-106.651&alt=1510&loc=Albuquerque&TZ=MST&Dur=2&Date=38625.7662384259

 

[mariecurie]

An Iridium flash or flare is sunlight being reflected from one of the three antennae (MMA) of an Iridium communications satellite. <br />They have flat, highly polished aluminum surfaces. <br />When the angles are just right, they can reflect the sun like a mirror. <br />There are over 80 of these in orbit, operated by the Iridium LLC Consortium. <br />

 

[Saiph]

no, it's the antanae that reflect. The solar panels are oriented to point at the sun (they even swivel).<br /><br />http://www.space.com/spacewatch/iridium_flares_040521.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[pale_blue_dave]

I saw something very similar to this in 1994. Was there anything up there at that time that would do this?

 

[rl77477]

I was in Austin on Sept. 27th around 10:00 pm and noticed a very bright light about 70 degrees above the horizon toward the west. It was brighter than Venus or Vega and appeared unchanged for about 10 seconds then faded away. It was not moving at all, using a nearby star as reference. Could it have been a rare super nova or do they appear in the sky for days? Or maybe a sat in geo orbit?

 

[rl77477]

Wasn't a plane or low orbit sat. It was not moving, it was stationary.

 

[CalliArcale]

Sometimes planes appear to be stationary -- this happens when they are travelling directly towards or away from you. At night, when all you can really make out is their navigational lights, it's nearly impossible to judge distance, so you can't tell it's approaching or receding unless it's close enough to see separate nav lights. So a plane is still a possibility.<br /><br />It is also possible for a satellite to seem to not move much, if it's got a very elliptical orbit and its apparent motion from your persepective is nearly straight away from you. I don't think any of the Iridium satellites would fit that, and other satellites would be too faint to be suspects.<br /><br />A meteor is a possibility; meteors (especially dramatic bolides) coming straight towards you will appear as unmoving points. However, it's rare for them to persist more than a second; if it was a meteor, you were extremely fortunate to see it.<br /><br />What part of the sky was this object in? One possibility is an actual star that became obscured by a very small but dense cloud; if there's no moon, it can be difficult to see small clouds except by noticing things disappearing behind them. <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>