It took about maybe 20 minutes. I thought someone was possibly taking a picture of us on the porch. I watch the stars and the sky a lot. Unless the meteor lined up perfectly with the star AND burned up in the shape of a double expanding mushroom cloud, that star did something stars don't normally do. I will check the star tonight to see if it has the same brilliance before the event. Last night, it lost more than 80 percent of its brightness after it did that. We were both watching it grow and contract then virtually disappear. The big dipper seemed to be missing a star after that. I checked each star that makes up the constellation to make sure i wasnt crazy.
I see clouds form over the lake all the time. Positively sure it was not a cloud. The shape was too defined. I wish i would have gotten a clearer picture...
All in all, it only lasted about 5 minutes. So, maybe not a supernova but it was some type of star activity..
It positively wasn't a cloud. There was a flash in the sky slightly before the star expanded. Then, after ot was done, the star is clearly smaller and not as bright anymore. I didnt have time to get the telescop positioned before it was gone. But, I watched the star for another hour. Phecda is now red and small in the sky. At least from my house....so, maybe it was some other weird star pulse of some kind??
