Iridium flares

[drewedgar]

How bright do iridium flares get?

The reason I ask is I've just been out, (between 23:20 & 23:30) and the only clear region of sky was around Cassiopeia. As I was just about to move my scope there, i noticed a very bright "flare", just to the west of Caph, (I'd say the distance of a full moon.) I'd say at-least as bright as Jupiter, if not brighter.

It dimmed very quickly and disappeared within the distance of approximately 4 full moon. (Sorry i couldn't be more precise, but I dont know arc seconds etc (but learning)

I've had a look on heavens above but cant find how to bring up past events.

What do you guys think?

Drew

[drewedgar]

It may have been Envisat

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[QldLiz]

Flares can get pretty bright Drew. I have seen some beauties, up to about mag -7.

[richbyers]

well i saw a mag -8 the other night, waited up for it, i think the rule is the brighter it is the shorter the flare lasts

rich

[Ant]

Login to Heavens-Above Home Page and set your location.

There is then a page to list flares in the previous 24hours., you could use this to check if what you saw was an Iridium Flare or not.

Most likely it was.

Good aren't they?

Ant

[Daz1969]

I saw it last night at the same time dude.

Twice in about a month:)

Clear skies

Daz

[drewedgar]

I've seen the ISS quite a lot and expected iridium flares to act the same, as a steady almost constant light from almost horizon to horizon. But this seemed to "flare" up and disappear in no time.

I suppose thats why theyre called iridium flares.

[drewedgar]

Login to Heavens-Above Home Page and set your location.

There is then a page to list flares in the previous 24hours., you could use this to check if what you saw was an Iridium Flare or not.

Most likely it was.

Good aren't they?

Ant

Yeah, i'm going to keep an eye on heavens above, and check them out more often.

Daz just found you on the SGL map and we're on a similar longitude. Dont know how much difference it would make, but i'd imagin we'd see the same.