Big Dipper Event

[Taithr]

I think Phecda went supernova last night.  Did anyone else see it?  

[Simon Pepper]

Did you join specifically to post this? If that went supernova you would see it during the day and the community and news would be going nuts. This probably a cloud.

Edited September 5 by Simon Pepper

[Taithr]

It positively wasn't a cloud.  There was a flash in the sky slightly before the star expanded.  Then, after ot was done, the star is clearly smaller and not as bright anymore.  I didnt have time to get the telescop positioned before it was gone.  But, I watched the star for another hour.  Phecda is now red and small in the sky.  At least from my house....so, maybe it was some other weird star pulse of some kind??

[AstroMuni]

10 minutes ago, Taithr said:

There was a flash in the sky slightly before the star expanded. 

How long did this process take before you saw the star as it is now?

[Simon Pepper]

18 minutes ago, Taithr said:

It positively wasn't a cloud.  There was a flash in the sky slightly before the star expanded.  Then, after ot was done, the star is clearly smaller and not as bright anymore.  I didnt have time to get the telescop positioned before it was gone.  But, I watched the star for another hour.  Phecda is now red and small in the sky.  At least from my house....so, maybe it was some other weird star pulse of some kind??

A supernova is an exploding star it wouldn’t get bright for a few mins then disappear into nothing and that star is close it would be as bright as the full moon this is a cloud or a reflection in your equipment

[Simon Pepper]

Also you can clearly see Phceda still in your photo…

[Waddensky]

Phecda can be seen in your picture next to the flare. The star is not massive enough to go supernova. Probably a satellite flare, nice catch though! 

Edited September 5 by Waddensky

[bosun21]

Yes Phecda is clearly seen above and to the right of the flash/cloud. Had Phecda went supernova (if it was large enough) it would have been mainstream news for sure given its locality.

[Taithr]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

Yes Phecda is clearly seen above and to the right of the flash/cloud. Had Phecda went supernova (if it was large enough) it would have been mainstream news for sure given its locality.

It took about maybe 20 minutes.  I thought someone was possibly taking a picture of us on the porch.  I watch the stars and the sky a lot.  Unless the meteor lined up perfectly with the star AND burned up in the shape of a double expanding mushroom cloud, that star did something stars don't normally do.  I will check the star tonight to see if it has the same brilliance before the event.  Last night, it lost more than 80 percent of its brightness after it did that.  We were both watching it grow and contract then virtually disappear.  The big dipper seemed to be missing a star after that.  I checked each star that makes up the constellation to make sure i wasnt crazy.

I see clouds form over the lake all the time.  Positively sure it was not a cloud.  The shape was too defined.  I wish i would have gotten a clearer picture...

 

All in all, it only lasted about 5 minutes.  So, maybe not a supernova but it was some type of star activity..

 

It positively wasn't a cloud.  There was a flash in the sky slightly before the star expanded.  Then, after ot was done, the star is clearly smaller and not as bright anymore.  I didnt have time to get the telescop positioned before it was gone.  But, I watched the star for another hour.  Phecda is now red and small in the sky.  At least from my house....so, maybe it was some other weird star pulse of some kind??

[bosun21]

I don't doubt what you saw for one minute but it's more likely that whatever caused the flash also caused smoke of some kind to drift in front of Phecda affecting its brightness. I'll be giving Phecda the once over the next time I get outside.

[Taithr]

Unless....we witnessed a meteor with an in-line sight trajectory.  Think that is possible?

[Taithr]

If so, it would have been a big meteor or space junk.  Never seen anything like it. Would have been over Lake Erie/ Canada near Simcoe maybe...

It lasted a long time for a meteor though...

[Elp]

There's videos online of space rockets/debris causing what look like expanding vapour clouds that look like micro galaxies just appearing then disappearing in real time. You could have seen something similar.

[Ratlet]

3 hours ago, Elp said:

There's videos online of space rockets/debris causing what look like expanding vapour clouds that look like micro galaxies just appearing then disappearing in real time. You could have seen something similar.

I was going to say the same thing.  Some of the videos of them are really gnarly 

[Paul M]

My guess is a thruster burn or propellant release on a satellite heading to polar orbit, though they usually fan out much wider and often have a lot of structure, and, and...

OK, it's lens flare!