Supernova ?

[Jelena]

Hello!

I came across this site while searching for information about supernova... I saw something beautiful 3 nights ago, a star that shone so bright just for a moment and then faded and disappeared.  Could it be supernova? Is it possible to see supernova without using a telescope or anytning else, just with bare eyes?

Thanks in advance

Jelena

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome to SGL. What you saw was probably an Iridium flare  If you know the time and direction you were looking you will be able to confirm this using this website http://www.heavens-above.com.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Welcome to the forum. Definitely not a supernova I'm afraid. We haven't had one that was naked-eye visible since 1604, the next one to will be big news. A supernova remains visible for a period of a few months. There was one earlier this year in the nearby galaxy M82 which reached mag 10.5, putting it within reach of small telescopes.

Was the object you saw noticeably moving? As Cornelius says it could well have been a satellite flare, they can be quite spectacular.

[ronin]

Sounds very much like an Iridium flare.

Generally last for a few seconds and it sounds as if you were looking at the right place at the right time.

An Iridium Flare is caused by reflection of the sun off of the panels of a series of communications satellites all called Iridium then with a number. As in Iridium 1, 2, 3, 4 ...... Similar to when a mirror reflects the sun at your eyes here.

Because they are orientated accurately and the orbit is known they are predictable.

If you give a date and time and your location in Serbia then it is easy to identify which one.

The website heavens-above tends to be the easiest to use, also measn that you can look up the next one and be prepared.

They are the sort of thing it is easy to find out and to show one to a person is fun.

If you were in Belgrade and it was May 21 then it could have been Iridium 60 at 23:11 (time is a guess) and you were looking North East.

[Jelena]

Thank you, dwarfs  . I'm afraid that I realy don't know the exact time, but,  roughtly, it was on the night of may 21st , about 23 h and I live in Bavaniste... So this is the first time for me to hear about iridium flares. I'll look on the net to see what that look like. And I'll check the link you gave me.

Thanks again

[ronin]

May 21st is a problem, no Iridium flares at the time given.

May 20 was one at 23:08 and May 22nd one at 23:01.

There are other satellites that flare so may have been one of them.

Problem for me is that the site for those is calsky and I never seem to manage to get meaningful data either into or out of it.

Depending on the "time" it may have been Metop A.

The time depends on CEST or not? Also how well they account for CEST.

Data is from calsky which out of interest says it is an experimental prediction and if seen would some report it back to them.

P.S. Next Iridium Flare for you is 22:54 tonight looking NE and up at an angle of 54 degrees.

Unfortunately again I may have your time wrong, I have said GMT+2, as a best guess from what I can see offered.

So could be 1 hour out.