Two bright flashes from a satellite?

Caiseoipe19

I just stepped outside my back door tonight at 01.40 and caught quite a large flash in the sky, out of the corner of my eye. On looking closer I saw that it came from, what I guess would be a satellite moving across the sky. (Maybe it wasn't...you'd know better!)
While I was tracking it and trying to work out the direction of the movement of this object, (so that I could ask you guys about it!) there was a second large flash from it. There must have been about a minute between the two bright flashes, during which, all that could be seen is a tiny object. I think it was moving in approximately a NNW direction across the sky.

Anyone know what it must have been?

shedweller

I think someone brought up this here before and it was agreed it was from an iridium satellite. I've seen it happen once and it was pretty cool!

aido76

If you register with http://www.heavens-above.com/ and add your cordinates, it will show you times of these flares for your area. They can be quite cool to see.

jfSDAS

Hi everyone,

Catching an unexpected brightening of a satellite is pretty cool. Down observing in Wicklow during the week we saw one object flaring a few times as it moved across the sky.

To find out what it was when i got home later I used the http://www.heavens-above.com site that aido76 mentions.

1. Use the select "from database" option on the home page
2. Type in your location when prompted - country will default to Ireland
3. Click the Search button and next click on the hyperlink for your town/area - this will return you to the main page
4. In the Satellites section select "Daily predictions for brighter satellites"
5. In the drop-downs change the current date to the date of your observation and click Update
6. Have a look in the Start, Highest Point, and End columns to determine the "best match" with your sighting, and also match the direction of travel in case a couple of satellites were passing over at the same time
7. Click on the satellite name and you'll get an all-sky chart showing the object's path

Best of luck with the detective work and check in to let us know what you saw!

John

Caiseoipe19

Thanks for all the replies! I couldn't figure out for definite what I saw...haven't quite gotten the hang of reading the sky charts yet!! Anyways, I was outside last night and spotted another bright satellite moving overhead so literally ran inside to check it up on that site...twas the ole ISS!

I decided to go out and watch it pass again there a few minutes ago and while I was watching it there was another flash from a different satellite out of the corner of my eye. It flashed at 23.36 (I've synced my watch to heavens-above site ) and disappeared and faded out again. There were no iridum satellites passing at that time though, as far as I can see. There was a satellite OPAL that passed at that time, and I think could possibly match up the route taken. But it's no iridium satellite.

Anyways, just saying thanks. This tracking is cool!

shedweller

I was outside talking to a work mate and spotted the iss coming up from the horizon at around 01:15 or so. Thought it was a plane for a second but the brilliant blue-white shine always gives it away for me!
If you have an iphone there is a free app called solar walk and it shows a few satellites accurately enough. Its not on android though. Somebody please correct me if im wrong!!

gctest50

This displays some of the satellites in augmented reality:

jfSDAS

Cheers for getting back to us Caiseoipe19 and great to hear you've become a space-bird watcher

There's an option on the Heavens Above front page to generate 7-day predictions for Iridium flares also. The majority of these are much brighter than the planet Venus for a brief moment. Start looking at the predicted spot a couple of minutes before the predicted flare. Normally you'll not see the satellite itself beforehand but once it flares you'll then be able to follow it slowly fading.

There's a greater number of satellites seen during the Summer months for a good reason. The Earth's shadow cast in space is lower in the sky at this time of year meaning more of them catch the Sun's light as they orbit overhead. Satellites are more often than not immersed in the Earth's shadow when it is higher in the sky during the winter months. Lots of info at http://www.satobs.org/observe.html

John

kbbucks

Caiseoipe19 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies! I couldn't figure out for definite what I saw...haven't quite gotten the hang of reading the sky charts yet!! Anyways, I was outside last night and spotted another bright satellite moving overhead so literally ran inside to check it up on that site...twas the ole ISS!

I decided to go out and watch it pass again there a few minutes ago and while I was watching it there was another flash from a different satellite out of the corner of my eye. It flashed at 23.36 (I've synced my watch to heavens-above site ) and disappeared and faded out again. There were no iridum satellites passing at that time though, as far as I can see. There was a satellite OPAL that passed at that time, and I think could possibly match up the route taken. But it's no iridium satellite.

Anyways, just saying thanks. This tracking is cool!

I've been watching that one for the last few months as well - it does generally pass between 23:15 and 23:45 but one night I spotted it at around 1:30. Roughly going in a NorthEast direction and on a cloud free nights it flashes up to 7 times before disappearing. I've checked a few of the satellite tracking websites but couldn't find any orbit that matched every night.

shedweller

kbbucks wrote: »

I've been watching that one for the last few months as well - it does generally pass between 23:15 and 23:45 but one night I spotted it at around 1:30. Roughly going in a NorthEast direction and on a cloud free nights it flashes up to 7 times before disappearing. I've checked a few of the satellite tracking websites but couldn't find any orbit that matched every night.

Yes, during summer you'll see it way later at night. In the winter there is a smaller window of opportunity to see it.