What was it?

[andyc277]

While i was walking the dog this evening (the very activity that got me to delve further into looking to the night sky) i saw a very bright light above me that then dimmed significantly but didnt disappear for quite a while. its not the first time ive seen said object, last time south to north, this time east towest Always travelling ona steady heading. Magnitude was brighter than jupiter. I suspect it to be a satellite but cant find any sites that match up. It occured at 2052BST in North Yorkshire, quite close to Leeming Bar. Any ideas?

[Brent]

I think it was an Iridium flare (Iridium 7) visible at -1.1 mag here at 20:50:53, so you are correct. I missed that one but caught a later one, Iridium 20

Watch for the brighter ones during the day, they are stunning to see and, I would guess, a cause of a lot of UFO sightings!

[valleyman]

I saw one at abour 8:30pm last night.

See my WOW Moment post

[Stargazer51N]

I saw my first Irridium flare last night around 22:30. I was out in my back garden with my 15x70s waiting for my eyes to dark adapt when I saw a bright light near Vega. It faded out of naked eye view within a couple of seconds but I managed to pick it up using the binos and follow it past the summer triangle. I have seen many satellites from my back garden, but this was the first time I've seen one flare - it was great

[andyc277]

Cool, just looked them up in a bit more detail. Ill have to keep a better eye out in future

[GazA]

If anyone has and iphone ive found a good app for looking for flares its called Sputnik - and its free :-)

[andyc277]

Mines an HTC android phone so will probably catch up shortly

[Daz1974]

Andy, I have a great app on my Android devices (Samsung Galaxy S2 and Asus Transformer) called Heavens Above. It is great for alerting you for ISS passes and Iridium flares.