Iridium Flare

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to observe an Iridium Flare in the sky and have been unsuccessful until today! I decided last night that I would try getting up early (6am) and see if that would be a better time to observe since going out at night has brought me nothing but clouds and dissappointment. The flare was supposed to be viewable at 6:23am, 7* N and at 30* altitude. I had the perfect spot to view it, which was at the end of my subdivision where no trees would be in my way. As I was looking at the Big Dipper this morning, I noticed a small "star" moving in between the line of view from the pointer stars to the North Star. As I watched this star move, it got really bright for only a few seconds and then faded until it disappeared. The whole even took less than one minute. I must say, I was slightly dissappointed. I was expecting to see some sort of flash or large object/star in the sky. This flare looked like an ordinary satelite that I probably wouldn't have been noticed if I wasn't looking at exactly the right spot at the right time.