Very bright 30sec flash Mon evening 5-1-2009

Donegal_TDI

Flash lasted for about 30sec,
did not move location,
viewed with naked eye.
Started like a dim star,
slowly brightened to piercing illumination, way brighter than brightest star in sky,
then slowly dimmed again.
To the right of ORION approx below aldeberan,
circa 8pm.
May have been Iridium 40 satellite,
according to starry night program,
was in the region at the time.
I was out at the time trying out my new Celestron C8 sgt advanced for the first time.
Was a VERY cold evening, brrrrrrrrr.
Anyone else see something like this ever?

murphyme

It sounds like an iriduim flare.

Was the whole event 30sec or the brighest part of the event 30 secs?

Michael.

Donegal_TDI

I would say the whole event, Michael, was 30 sec.
Time was a very subjective thing at the time.
This is the first time I have seen anything unusual in the heavens(~40yrs), and my mind was in overdrive, thought I was seeing a nova, or a meteor coming head on(imagine being hit by a metor on first time to gaze through a decent telescope), but the event was too long to be meteor related and too short to be nova related.
In the farming half of my life, I'm out a lot at night, and apart from the odd meteor, and years ago(Kuwait war) a formation of 5 US fighters flying in a v formation very high and very fast, this is the first wierd thing I've seen in the sky at night.
I'll go with Iridium I think.

murphyme

It sounds like an iridium flare.

The few I've seen are very bright for a few seconds and then take a while to fade to nothing.

I've managed to wow the neighbours a few times by saying look over there and then a flash:)

Michael.

Linguo

I agree is an iridium flare, fun to see!