supernova

[james1700]

Last night I was outside my house and I thought I saw a supernova. As I was looking up at the sky I saw a star appear and it got really bright and then it started to get dim. Any answers to what I saw

[vlaiv]

Nope, not a supernova.

You've probably seen something that is called Iridium flare. Certain types of artificial satellites are notorious for reflecting sunlight in really bright flash that usually lasts about 10s with peak intensity in just few seconds.

Here is further reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_flare

It might be perceived as stationary event if coming directly towards you (so you don't see it moving across the sky as much).

[james1700]

It lasted all night long I was looking at it for hrs it started about 10pm last night

[vlaiv]

Any idea which part of the sky was it in? Here is some quick reference for latest reported supernovae

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html

None is currently a naked eye event.

[james1700]

Well I live in the south part of Texas and I mean south like Mexico is a short drive away and I was looking south west

[vlaiv]

Anyway I do think that supernova is unlikely candidate for the event you witnessed. They tend to last up to couple of months keeping their peak brightness over many days. Hopefully someone else here might give suggestion to the cause of this thing you saw.

[vlaiv]

Just to add, it might have been a variable star? There are a few dozen of naked eye variable stars, some of them might have short enough period that variation of brightness might be observed in a course of one evening. Did it look like ordinary star or was it much brighter than anything else in the sky?

[james1700]

Much brighter

[Dave In Vermont]

I agree this event was very likely an 'iridium-flare.' These are quite common, and some folks, who have satellite-trackers, actively look for them as they can be accurately predicted. Especially for the Iridium-class satellites for which they are named. The Iridium's are tele-communications-satellietes that rotate while in orbit. They do this to send signals to certain ground-sites to deliver their signals to the gear they communicate through. Such is known in the business as 'telemetry.'

If you'd like to try your hand at looking for predicted events from these critters, I'll link you with Previsat. This is a free software-program that will show you the artificial-satellites up there that are visible from your location. Just follow the instructions that come with:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/previsat/

Spam & malware-free. Brought to you courtesy of the same site that handles Stellarium - SourceForge.

Happy tracking!

Dave

[Stu]

Definitely not a supernova.

How high up in the sky was it? Did it move with the stars or stay fixed in one point? How long did it take to get to peak brightness and then dim? How bright did it appear relative to Jupiter say? Was it a point of light or did it appear larger than a star?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The brightest supernova at the moment is magnitude 13.9. That would be hard to spot with my 8" scope (doable, but needs good conditions)

 

 

[DRT]

I just had a go with the software Dave linked to above. It seems there has only been one Iridium Flare visible from Texas in the past 48 hours (from Iridium 55) but it only lasted a few minutes and happened when the Sun was 12 degrees above the horizon, so could not have been visible at Mag 6.7.

We need another explanation

[DRT]

7 hours ago, james1700 said:

It lasted all night long I was looking at it for hrs it started about 10pm last night

7 hours ago, james1700 said:

I was looking south west

James,

If you were looking South West from 10pm and the object was stationary against the background stars it would have disappeared below the horizon in a relatively short time.

Was it in the same location in the sky from your viewpoint "for hrs" (that is, did you stand facing in the same south westerly direction looking into the sky at the same angle during the whole time you could see the object) or was it moving from east to west along with the stars?

[FenlandPaul]

Head on meteor might be another explanation if it lasted a second or so?

[Joe12345]

Could it be a geocentric spy satellite that isn't quite geocentric? That would explain why it wasn't on any charts. Unlikely though.

[james1700]

It was moving with the stars but seems like you guys know what u talking about thanks for all your answers I just had to ask someone who knows it's just something I don't see every day

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 25/03/2016 at 01:41, james1700 said:

It lasted all night long I was looking at it for hrs it started about 10pm last night

Not a SN. Not an Iridium flare. Not a passing satellite.

The only thing i can think of is a geo-synchonised satellite (stationary in Earth's orbit) that came into view and reflecting the Suns light and moved with the rotation of the Earth.

[goodricke1]

Well if it was visible all night it was probably Jupiter passing through clouds

[Dave In Vermont]

Satellites other than an Iridium-satellite also cause flares. The 'flare' is caused by a satellite rotating as it orbits. The rotation exposes some part of it that's reflective - and shiny-part catches the sun-light and causes the bright flare as seen by ground observers. And there are, quite literally, thousand of those things over our heads. And checking all the satellites with a satellite-tracker like Previsat may still come up with nothing. This being because not even 1/2 of existing satellites are listed publically - there are thousands more that are unlisted as they are classified. Such as 'spy-satellites' used by various intelligence-agencies and the military.

As an amusement, I've been tracking the one the DPRK (North Korea) launched in February that is still causing great concern. It had been tumbling out-of-control for a long time, but has managed to right itself again. It's NORAD designation is KMS-4, and is what is known as a 'LEO'- class satellite - LEO = Low Earth Orbit.

Have fun,

Dave

 

[spaceboy]

On ‎25‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 23:25, james1700 said:

It was moving with the stars but seems like you guys know what u talking about thanks for all your answers I just had to ask someone who knows it's just something I don't see every day

It is not until you look with intensity at the heavens till you realize just how many things are going on up there.

Most of the time it is missed as people simply don't look up or the sky is so washed out with light pollution. Supernova happen, thank fully some way away from us but some are visible through telescopes. You have to appreciate the enormity of what is going on during such an event. This is a star more massive than we can comprehend going bang so the whole episode tends to last a bit longer than one night.

 

This may be interest to you https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/ as it is possible to see the space station go over head with or with out a telescope.