11 July 2004

Iridium flare!

The name may sound like something bad that's about to happen to the Enterprise, but it's actually a really cool phenomenom (do-dooo do do-do). The highly polished antenna on the Iridium sattelite reflects the sun and you see a really bright flash in the sky. Here's the gory details.
So thanks to the totally cool Heavens Above, you can now find out exactly when one will occur in your neck of the woods. The brightest flares are ~25 times brighter than Venus at it's brightest. If you saw one unexpectedly, you might think the invasion was beginning....

As if the flare was't enough, we also caught the ISS passing overhead about 15 minutes later. It passed almost directly overhead and was very bright. Sharon thought it was a plane at first....

Even if you're not a geek, it's these are worth checking out, because they look COOL!

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