Iridium flares

[vienna2]

Anyone care to comment on the damage to equipment?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_flare

Satellite flare (also known as satellite glint) is the phenomenon caused by the reflective surfaces on satellites (such as antennas or solar panels) reflecting sunlight directly onto the Earth below and appearing as a brief, bright "flare".

[edit] Iridium satellite flare

An Iridium satellite

The Iridium communication satellites have a peculiar shape with three polished door-sized antennas, 120 degrees apart and at 40 degree angles with the main bus. The forward antenna faces the direction in which the satellite is travelling. Occasionally an antenna will reflect sunlight directly down to the Earth, creating a predictable and quickly moving illuminated spot of about 10 km diameter. To an observer this looks like an extremely bright flare in the sky with a duration of a few seconds.

Ranging up to -8 magnitude (rarely to a brilliant -9.5)[1], some of the flares are so bright that they can be seen at daytime; but they are most impressive at night. This flashing has been some annoyance to astronomers, as the flares occasionally disturb observations and can damage sensitive equipment.[citation needed]

When not flaring, the satellites are often visible crossing the night sky at a typical magnitude of 6, similar to a dim star.

[The Warthog]

I'd be interested to know what kind of astronomical kit could be damaged by the sudden appearance of a -8 mag glare in the FOV. Sounds a bit urban legendish to me. It would spoil whatever frames you were taking at that moment.

[jgs001]

It'll probably hurt you're eye for a moment or three as well, especially if you're dark adapted. I've got nothing sensitive enough that it'll get damaged by one, after all I point most of my gear at the full moon too and that's what mag -12 or something ?

[vienna2]

Thanks guys, wiki has citation needed which generaly = false