WOW DID ANYONE ELSE SEE THAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MarkH]

Woww I had just been outside taking some snaps of cygnus was looking up with naked eye and a brilliant yellow flash somewhere between delphinus and sagitta. It was about 17.52 and I would guess at mag -2 or -3 or even brighter. Could it have been a super nova ? Too excited to think straight.

[The Thing]

Sounds like an Iridium flare, a rotating satellite phone satellite catching the setting sun. See Heavens Above or get an app for your phone which will tell you when they are coming, where to look and how bright they will be. Google will tell you all about them.

[MarkH]

Definitely not an iridium flare, seen plenty of those, could have been the latter though Duncan.

[mickw]

4 satellites in the vicinity within 4 minutes - COBE, Cosmos 1536 and two Iridiums

[MarkH]

I have just checked heavens above and all of the satelites around that time are listed at around mag 3 or 4 so I would have seen it before the flash and after but there was nothing. This was way brighter than vega or deneb.

[MarkH]

4 satellites in the vicinity within 4 minutes - COBE, Cosmos 1536 and two Iridiums

I did seone of those two satelites about a minute later Mick about mag 1 north to south.

[Mike]

Definitely not a Supernova as they are visible for days or weeks after they go off. Some kind of satellite flare.

[Mac]

If it was a supernova, there would be a little more info in the internet by now,

Could have been a super fast meteor, Very bright, very small, very short lived,
Did you notice if there was a vapor trail left after?

Mac.

[MarkH]

Hi Mac, no there was no motion at all no trail. I saw what I later found out to be part of an asteroid enter the atmosphere a few weeks ago, that had a trail, broke into 4 or 5 pieces and lasted about 4 seconds and bright red, aparenty caused by ison colliding in the asteroid belt. What I saw last night was like someone had switched a star on for about a second and then off. It seemed much bigger than any star and very bright maybe mag -2 or -3

[Rick]

Two options. Well, three, but I presume you'd have recognised the third...

First, and most likely, a satellite flare. Any satellite with a large flat surface may give a flare. Iridium are the best known, mainly because they're low enough to be bright and visibly moving even when they're not correctly oriented for a flare, but satellites in much higher orbits may also flare. They won't be as bright (but remember that Iridium flares can get to -8 or -9) and the satellite may not be at all easy to see except when it's aligned just so. The class of Russian Molniya satellites Mike identified earlier sometimes flare, for example.

Second, a head-on meteor. If it's coming straight at you then it'll appear not to move. It happens, but not that often.

Third, a distant plane doing things with its landing lights, but I figure you'd have recognised this for what it was...

One observational caveat; I wear glasses, and have learned to check for the possibility of some odd reflection off them if I see something unexpected...

[MarkH]

Ahh well done Rick I think you've found it  I recon your second reason is the answer it fits the description perfecty, thank you very much.