[meteorite-list] Re: bright flash

From: azaware <azaware_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:07:02 2004
Message-ID: <005501c277e6$36733ae0$0101a8c0_at_msn.net>

 Hi Marco

I'm completely surprise no one has seen this before. I'm not surprise that
know ones seen it right when it happens because its taken some 35 years for
me to see it. I'm surprise no ones seen something off to the side. I don't
recall how many of those I've almost seen but I would say maybe 5 times or
so. What it looked like is like a star you can just see then it just gets
bigger and brighter to a point like what the brightest star. Then it was
gone. I'm sure it was just a falling star because it did exactly what a
falling star would do hitting the atmosphere. It was real cool because it
looked like some distant star exploding.

Kim Az

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marco Langbroek" <marco.langbroek_at_wanadoo.nl>
To: "meteorite list" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Cc: <azaware_at_msn.com>; <tracyl@lib.state.hi.us>
Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 3:33 AM
Subject: re: bright flash


> Hi Kim, Tracy,
>
> Indeed, similar to Tracy I find Kim's description most suggestive of an
> Iridium satellite flare. For those who do not know, this is a series of
> artificial communication satellites, initiated some years ago (I believe
we
> started to first see them in 1997), in order to provide for (expensive)
> satellite telephone from anywhere in the world. The network entailed as
much
> as 70 satellites, most of which have indeed been launched. The project
> failed as the company in question got bankrupt, but the satellites are
still
> there although they should be phased out and re-enter as was the plan some
> time ago when the company was dismantled and the network closed. They
carry
> a large antenna panel which reflects beams of sunlight. This creates short
> flashes, sometimes just one, sometimes a series within a few seconds.
These
> can be very bright; I've seen Iridium flares of magnitude -8, matching the
> waxing moon in brightness. We regularly observe them during our meteor
> observations, if you are watching all night almost inevitably you'll see
one
> (although not all flashes are necessarily that bright) and they are at the
> same time both a nuisance (as they appear just like bright meteor
fireballs
> when they appear in the corner of your eye), but sometimes also fun. Quite
a
> special phenomena. There is a website where you, for your geographic
> location, can check on possible Iridium flares visible from your location;
> so you can check if the flash you saw at a certain time was an iridium, or
> when another one will be visible for a given night. I don't have the URL
> ready here, but with a google search or whatever (wouldn't surprise me if
> sites like S&T link to the site) on "Iridium flares" you might be able to
> find it and check.
>
> - Marco
> Dutch Meteor Society
>
> > Message: 13
> > Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 14:33:16 -1000 (HST)
> > From: Tracy Latimer <tracyl_at_lib.state.hi.us>
> > To: azaware <azaware_at_msn.com>
> > Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] bright flash
> >
> > Another candidate for bright flashes of unknown origin is iridium
> > flares. They can be as bright or brighter than Venus, and are freaky if
> > you don't know what you're looking at. I've been fooled by them a few
> > times.
> >
> > Tracy Latimer
> >
> > On Thu, 17 Oct 2002, azaware wrote:
> >
> > Has anyone ever seen this before? You know when you're looking for
falling
> > stars. Sometime off to the side of where your looking you see something
> that
> > looked like maybe a star getting really bright, but by the time you look
> > there, its gone. I've seen this many times and finely I was looking
right
> at
> > it. It was really cool. It looked like a star that just kept getting
> bigger
> > and brighter then it was gone. Then second after there was a little one.
> > This all happen with in seconds. For a while I thought for sure it was
> some
> > planets exploding. But a guess it was just a falling star coming
straight
> > in. If you see this now you know.
> >
> > Kim Az
>
>
>
> ---
> Marco Langbroek e-mail: marco.langbroek_at_wanadoo.nl
> Diefsteeg 1
> NL-2311 TS Leiden
> the Netherlands
> http://home.wanadoo.nl/marco.langbroek/
>
>
> "What seest thou else
> In the dark backward and abysm of time?"
>
> William Shakespeare: The Tempest act I scene 2
> ---
>
>
>
>
>
Received on Sat 19 Oct 2002 11:10:10 PM PDT