Last night's OTHER flash in the sky

[Bugdozer]

Around 18:45 from Hastings, I noticed a starlike light somewhat brighter than Jupiter. It was slightly orange in colour, and as I watched it faded to invisibility over about 10 seconds. Unfortunately I didn't see it appear so I don't know how long it was there before I noticed it or how quickly it appeared. It was roughly in the position of Epsilon Eridani. I later discovered another local astronomer had seen it from the seafront, in the same place. 

The only thing I can think of is maybe a meteor seen end on? Which would explain the absence of any apparent movement or a trail. Does anyone else have any other suggestions? 

[Leo S]

In general point meteors are rare, usually best seen during times of very high meteor activity. In most cases, meteors would be one in 1 second or less. To see a negative magnitude, very long lasting point meteor would be an exceptionally rare thing. More likely would be a flare from a satellite I think. Ther are often slow moving enough that if you only see a few seconds worth they might appear not to move, especially if they were a bit away from reference points/stars.

XW-2F looks like a good candidate:

[Bugdozer]

That certainly is in about the right place at the right time. It would have had to be moving quite slowly though. The lack of apparent movement was what made me dismiss the idea but as you say, being far from bright reference stars could have fooled me. 

[jjohnson3803]

I noticed an "extra" orange star in the bowl of the Little Dipper a year or so ago.  It was probably around 2nd magnitude, didn't appear to move over a period of several minutes, and then slowly faded. 

I couldn't find anything listed as being there at that time on the Heavens Above site, but I'm told that military sats are often not listed.