What did I see

[Naomi brooker]

Please help...I was watching the sky tonight and at approximately 12:10am I was looking towards Deneb when I saw a bright green flash. It probably lasted 2 seconds. Could you tell me what I may have seen? Was it a fireball?

[Peter Drew]

Hello Naomi, welcome to SGL. A likely cause of what you saw was a flash from an Iridium satellite, these have large solar panels which produce a similar effect, their predictions can be found on spaceweather.com 

[Naomi brooker]

Ok thank you.. I was hoping it was a fireball as I had just seen two meteors! thank you x

[Naomi brooker]

Ive just checked and the timing for satellite is out by 2 hours. There have been several sightings of a green - white bright meteor. But this was earlier in the evening. It looked like I caught the (supposed fireball) face on as opposed to going across leaving a trail? Sorry for the questions but it was amazing! x

[ronin]

An Iridium flare (satellite panels reflecting the sun) sounds about right for the duration, and there are other satellites that produce flares besides Iridium satellites. So tracking which one it may have been could be time consuming.

If it was a meteor then it would have to contain something like nickel in it to produce the colour, and no reason why it was not a meteor with something like nickel in it.

Found this report for not that far from you:

30AUG2014 Sean H South Cave, EAST YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND 20:40 / GMT, PM 3/5/2014 E-W GREEN Brighter than moon, seen at sunset No visible fragmentation Brightest I have ever seen!

Came from a meteor watch site.

Slightly unsure of the date however as there appears to be 2 supplied.

There were 2 other reports of bright meteors for 30 Aug, none specifically green.

New Zealand appears to have had a few bright green one in the last day or two. So maybe one of them that was visible in the UK.

Also  a few reports from Vancouver.

So likely a meteor, most of the NZ reports mention 2-3 second durations.

There is a minor meteor shower at this time, the Alpha Aurigids, the peak is/was Aug 30th or Sept 1 depending which yoiu read. So that ties in well. Auriga is low but would be about right, I was looking at M11 in Auriga a few night back.

Cannot find if they tend to be coloured green or not.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Any flares ive seen last longer then 2 seconds and were all white. A 2 second green flash (i assume no streaking?), sounds more like a meteor entering the atmosphere head on from your perspective.

[Naomi brooker]

It was definitely a bright green flash.. no trail. I had seen 2 meteors within a period of 20 mins. However they came from the direction of north east. I just couldnt believe what I saw. It was amazing!

Thank you guys for your help!

I just need to learn how to rig my camera to my telescope! xx

[Charic]

Iridium flare is reflected Sunlight from the Solar panels of an Iridium communications satelite, and Ive seen many, but none showing any sign of green colouration so I doubt that was the cause. I suspect some other particle caused the green flash. I have seen several un-explained flashes with none, or no apparent tails, when I notice these, I'm expecting a nearby thud, incase its heading my way?

[LukeSkywatcher]

Its also possible that the flash you saw was inside of your eye on the retina. Its a common enough thing and people say the flashes are either green or red. I have noticed it a couple of times in red. 

[Naomi brooker]

Thanks again for all your advice and suggestions xx