Two bright 'stars' in Perseus

At about 20:10 BST (19:10 UT) looking NE I say two very bright 'stars'
appear in Perseus. They appeared suddenly; were of identical brightness,
stationary and over about 30 seconds faded in unison until they disappeared.
I'd estimate they were -1 magnitude or brighter and about 2 degrees apart.
My location is near Worcester (52.1N 2.3W).

Does anyone have a clue what they were? Did anyone else see them? My wife
also saw them (actually she pointed them out to me). So I know I didn't
imagine them.

I've checked Heaven's Above and they are no Iridium flares or ISS passes
that match the time. Plus the fact that there were two that faded
identically seems odd.

Andy V-H

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 20:38:34 +0100, "Andy Verity-Harrison"
wrote:

At about 20:10 BST (19:10 UT) looking NE I say two very bright 'stars'
appear in Perseus. They appeared suddenly; were of identical brightness,
stationary and over about 30 seconds faded in unison until they disappeared.
I'd estimate they were -1 magnitude or brighter and about 2 degrees apart.
My location is near Worcester (52.1N 2.3W).

Does anyone have a clue what they were? Did anyone else see them? My wife
also saw them (actually she pointed them out to me). So I know I didn't
imagine them.

I've checked Heaven's Above and they are no Iridium flares or ISS passes
that match the time. Plus the fact that there were two that faded
identically seems odd.

Andy V-H

Andi

I noticed those two stars, very bright and then fade quickly. I had
assumed that cloud cover had blocked the light from the stars.

I thought it was strange to see what appeared to be two stars at the
same level of brightness, gradually increase and then fade.

I hope to read more!!

PS I am near St John's, Worcester (52.1N 2.2W).

Paul D

I saw something very similar about a month back in the southern sky about 25
degrees up. They weren't stationary - though I thought they were at first -
but very slowing moving northwards. Almost definitely satellite flares, but I
haven't seen anything like it before (or since). Lasted maybe about a minute.

Do the NOSS (they are the triplets and doublets right?) sats flare? I've seen
the triplets before but never seen them brighten like this.

Mark


Andy Verity-Harrison wrote:
At about 20:10 BST (19:10 UT) looking NE I say two very bright 'stars'
appear in Perseus. They appeared suddenly; were of identical
brightness, stationary and over about 30 seconds faded in unison
until they disappeared. I'd estimate they were -1 magnitude or
brighter and about 2 degrees apart. My location is near Worcester
(52.1N 2.3W).
Does anyone have a clue what they were? Did anyone else see them? My
wife also saw them (actually she pointed them out to me). So I know I
didn't imagine them.

I've checked Heaven's Above and they are no Iridium flares or ISS
passes that match the time. Plus the fact that there were two that
faded identically seems odd.

Andy V-H

Do the NOSS (they are the triplets and doublets right?) sats flare? I've
seen
the triplets before but never seen them brighten like this.

Yes, the NOSS can flare. I saw one from home in July 2002. It was also
observed from a few miles North of Manchester. I've heard of other such
events as well.

Andy - Heavens-Above allows you to enter other sats like NOSS - may help solve it?

Nytecam

Wasn't it nytecam who wrote:

Andy - Heavens-Above allows you to enter other sats like NOSS - may help
solve it?

No satellite in Low Earth Orbit is going to fit Andy's observation of
two stationary objects. LEO satellites don't appear to be stationary.

--
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure

"Mike Williams" wrote in message
...
Wasn't it nytecam who wrote:

Andy - Heavens-Above allows you to enter other sats like NOSS - may help
solve it?

No satellite in Low Earth Orbit is going to fit Andy's observation of
two stationary objects. LEO satellites don't appear to be stationary.

--
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure

I could be convinced that they were moving very slowly. There were few stars
visible and none near by so it was difficult to determine motion as they was
nothing nearby to reference against. Certainly compared to when I've seen
the ISS going over they were stationary relative to the (apparent) speed of
the ISS.

Andy V-H

"Andy Verity-Harrison" wrote in message
...
At about 20:10 BST (19:10 UT) looking NE I say two very bright 'stars'
appear in Perseus. They appeared suddenly; were of identical brightness,
stationary and over about 30 seconds faded in unison until they
disappeared. I'd estimate they were -1 magnitude or brighter and about 2
degrees apart. My location is near Worcester (52.1N 2.3W).

Does anyone have a clue what they were? Did anyone else see them? My wife
also saw them (actually she pointed them out to me). So I know I didn't
imagine them.

I've checked Heaven's Above and they are no Iridium flares or ISS passes
that match the time. Plus the fact that there were two that faded
identically seems odd.

Andy V-H
I saw the same thing and they dissappeared very quickly.
I'm in south Birmingham.

Garry

"garry parker" wrote in message
...

"Andy Verity-Harrison" wrote in message
...
At about 20:10 BST (19:10 UT) looking NE I say two very bright 'stars'
appear in Perseus. They appeared suddenly; were of identical brightness,
stationary and over about 30 seconds faded in unison until they
disappeared. I'd estimate they were -1 magnitude or brighter and about 2
degrees apart. My location is near Worcester (52.1N 2.3W).

Does anyone have a clue what they were? Did anyone else see them? My wife
also saw them (actually she pointed them out to me). So I know I didn't
imagine them.

I've checked Heaven's Above and they are no Iridium flares or ISS passes
that match the time. Plus the fact that there were two that faded
identically seems odd.

Andy V-H
I saw the same thing and they dissappeared very quickly.
I'm in south Birmingham.

Garry



My estimate of 30 seconds is very crude - it depends how you define very
quickly. They definitely lasted longer than any meteor I've seen. If that's
a better gauge.

Andy V-H

"Andy Verity-Harrison" wrote in message
...

"garry parker" wrote in message
...

"Andy Verity-Harrison" wrote in message
...
At about 20:10 BST (19:10 UT) looking NE I say two very bright 'stars'
appear in Perseus. They appeared suddenly; were of identical brightness,
stationary and over about 30 seconds faded in unison until they
disappeared. I'd estimate they were -1 magnitude or brighter and about 2
degrees apart. My location is near Worcester (52.1N 2.3W).

Does anyone have a clue what they were? Did anyone else see them? My
wife also saw them (actually she pointed them out to me). So I know I
didn't imagine them.

I've checked Heaven's Above and they are no Iridium flares or ISS passes
that match the time. Plus the fact that there were two that faded
identically seems odd.

Andy V-H
I saw the same thing and they dissappeared very quickly.
I'm in south Birmingham.

Garry



My estimate of 30 seconds is very crude - it depends how you define very
quickly. They definitely lasted longer than any meteor I've seen. If
that's a better gauge.

Andy V-H

I must have caught them at the end of their appearance! I know they weren't
there a couple of minutes earlier. I was looking for bright stars to
collimate my ropey 20x80's, spotted these two, and promptly lost them again.

Garry