Iridium Flare ???

[ggreene1]

The other night I was sitting outside in my chair enjoying the stars. I was looking relatively high in the Southern sky. I saw a satellite moving towards the South so I followed it and all of a sudden it got very bright. I'm talking brightest star in the sky bright, for about 4 seconds. Then it went back to it's original brightness and continued on. Would that be considered an Iridium Flare ? If so, I can tick it off my VERY short list of observations (Newbie)

[LukeSkywatcher]

It sounds like an Iridium to me.Very stunning to witness.

You can check the time and date on:

www.heavens-above.com

[jgs001]

There's a number of satellites that flare and fade like that... the short duration makes me think it might well be Goce (found this one on the Satellite Flyby app) rather than an Iridium. Goce flares for about 4 or 5 seconds (like a short duration Iridium), whereas an Iridium is about 10 to 15 seconds.

[ggreene1]

There's a number of satellites that flare and fade like that... the short duration makes me think it might well be Goce (found this one on the Satellite Flyby app) rather than an Iridium. Goce flares for about 4 or 5 seconds (like a short duration Iridium), whereas an Iridium is about 10 to 15 seconds.

It certainly was only about 4 seconds... Darn, I thought I caught my first Iridium.

[gurneyfan67]

I was out in my front yard a couple of years ago mowing the lawn, and I saw a bright light as you describe. I kind of though it might be an Iridium flare since I had recently read an article about them. I ran in the house to the computer and to Heavens Above and sure enough the position and time was correct. It was as bright as Venus!