Confused about Iridium flares

[Breakintheclouds]

Okay, it's possible I'm being really stupid here, but I'm confused about the direction of Iridium flares. There's a bright magnitude -8 flare forecast tomorrow from my location, with, according to Heavens Above, the satellite passing less than 3 km from my house:

Iridium Flare Details

The thing is, according to that map, and also according to another map I checked, the satellite passes more or less to the West of my location. So why is the flare predicted to be visible to the SSE? How does that work?

[lukebl]

It's not that the satellite itself is 3km from you, but that the centre line of the flare (where the flare will be at its brightest) passes 3km west of you. The actual satellite is hundreds of miles above you.

[Breakintheclouds]

Thanks, Luke - I did mean the centre of the track was close to me: I didn't think the satellite was skimming the treetops! I'm still not sure why the centre of the track is to the West but the flare will be visible to the SSE, however.

[lukebl]

Sorry. Didn't mean to sound patronising! I guess the light beam is at an angle, so that the satellite is to the SSE, but the light beam is pointing towards a location 3km to your west.

[Breakintheclouds]

Ah! That makes complete sense - thanks. I think the issue was that I saw these maps and got the impression the tracks drawn on the ground were the tracks of the satellites overhead.

[Capricorn]

I have had the same problem.

Read somewhere on their FAQ's about it last night.

The "first" diagram that appears is the track that the flare centre follows. The satallite is way above you and the beam is in effect passing over your head to hit the ground on the other side. (Sometimes)

Simple idea is:

You stood on the ground.

Me stood on a 20 story building on your right.

I shine a laser pointer over you to hit the ground say 100 yds on your left.

The bright centre of the beam is to your left, but the beam is coming from your right.

You would have to look to the right to see the beam(flare).

I nearly emailed the person on Heavans Above then decided to check the FAQ's. Which managed to explain it to me. Took 3 reading's however.

In effect you have to use the satellite path to know where to look, not the track of the flare centre.