Satellite flares

[Analoguesat]

Last night was the first really clear night we have had in ages. I was looking at the _http://www.heavens-above .com website to see if there were any good satellite passes expected when I noticed the satellite flare prediction section.

Using this I managed to see two very bright flares off Iridium 46 and Iridium 64. The Iridiums are telephone communications satellites in low earth orbit about 400 miles up., and if you have a favourable pass are very bright indeed - in fact its possible to see them in daylight.

The Iridium 64 pass was the best one - it started dim then as it tracked southwards and the sun caught its solar panels it brightened up to magnitude -8 for a few seconds, then faded back down to dimness. Very spectacular, and a fascinating bit of observational astronomy. The photo below shows a typical Iridium flare and is a copyright free image from _http://www.budgetastro.com

 

[compufunk]

Are these flares visible with the naked eye?

 

[Analoguesat]

Cant miss them! The second one I saw was a -8 which is as bright as they get, and it was outshining anything in the sky at the time.

When it came into sight first it just looked like a faint star tracking across the sky but as the angle improved is got REALLY bright

I wont be seeing any tonight though - its gone cloudy again

The nice thing about these though is that as long as you are looking in roughly the right direction you cant miss it. Its not like a bright meteor which whizzes across the sky - you get a few seconds at maximum brightness to orientate yourself..

 

[2cvbloke]

Reminds me of the time I wanted to buy an Iridium satellite phone, like I'd be able to afford one and keep it running...