Incredible light in Aries

[Andrew*]

Went out to capture those iridium flares I was talking about and just as I was rushing inside to get some batteries at just after 3am, I saw, in the direction of Aries, an extremely bright "star". I would estimate brighter than Jupiter, so magnitude -4 or so. It was a yellow colour, and did not brighten or fade or move during the 2 seconds I watched it.

It was probably in the same place as Hamal (alpha arietis). As I was in a hurry, I shrugged it off as Aldebaran or something but then went back to check again. There was nothing there anymore. Whatever it was had faded very rapidly.

Any explanations? I'm hoping it was a GRB or supernova or something

Anyone else happen to see it too?

Andrew

[Ant]

Sounds interesting Andrew.

I certainly wasn't out at that time of the morning!

I'd love to know what it was?

Ant

[phillc]

Sorry can't help either Andrew, as I never seem to get clear night skies any more. :crybaby: But what you saw sounds intriguing. Can,t wait to see if anybody else saw it.

phillc :wave:

[Andrew*]

Yes it was quite extraordinary how it disappeared over the space of about 5 seconds.

Does anyone know how to report these things to professional astronomers? I tried the ESA and NASA websites but can't see any way of reportinig an incident. I would like an explanation and maybe they can help me identify it or maybe even my observation could help them....?

Cheers

Andrew

[James]

When I used to live in St Andrews many of us used to wonder about similar kinds of sightings. When we eventually got together and approached the RAF at Leuchars (about 3 miles away) and asked them they said it was most probably landing lights on their jets or helicopters from several miles out. We were more than sceptical until later that evening we stood at the end of the runway (on the public side behind a fence) and watched the jets come in from a point 5 miles away - the lights were incredibly bright and didn't appear to move as the aircraft were heading straight for us.

Its possible you've seen something like that that happened to be oriented in your direction for just a few seconds.

I really hope it's something a little less mundane though!

[steviejasp]

Could be that the asteroid from the thread a couple of weeks ago has returned :mrgreen:

[Andrew*]

now that you say it, it looked like it was movign at about walking pace.... :?

Andrew

[GazOC]

Its not a SN or GRB I'd have thought. Could it have been a plane heading towards you? I get one like that heading from the south quite often, because of the perspective it takes a little time to show any movement.

[Andrew*]

yes, it's a possible explanation, but why would it suddenly "disappear"? Also, planes aren't allowed to fly at 3 am are they?

Andrew

[trevboyd]

Could it have been a police helicopter with a search light or similar? It could be up at 3am, and if it turned away suddenly, that would explain the rapid disappearance...

Trev

[GazOC]

Sorry, should've read James' post.

[Andrew*]

Could it have been a police helicopter with a search light or similar? It could be up at 3am, and if it turned away suddenly, that would explain the rapid disappearance...

Could be...

And now for some really exotic suggestions?

Andrew

[davekermito]

Could it be an aircraft at high altitude flying 'towards' you?

I'm just (possibly ridiculously!) guessing that it was high enough to reflect the as yet unrisen sun? But at 3am it might be a little unlikely.

I've seen airliners catch the sunlight for 5 or 6 seconds at dawn and dusk which seem exceedingly bright.