2000-07-31 - Kuroki, SK - Flash

After seeing an unusual flash in the night sky the previous evening, I was curious to see if the phenomenon would occur the following evening. I began watching the sky overhead at about 10 pm local time. During the next hour and 20 minutes, I saw three meteors streak overhead (two approximately east to west and one south to north) and three satellites cross the sky (two approximately west to east and one south to north). At 11:21 an object in the handle of the Big Dipper (near Alioth) grew in brightness, then winked out. It was not as bright as the object I saw the previous evening, but still brighter than any of the stars around it. It also seemed not to have the bluish colour to it, being more like the meteors I saw earlier. In fact, except that it was stationary in the sky, it mostly resembled a meteor by its colour and in the way it grew in brightness and dimmed suddenly. I continued watching the sky for about another 20 minutes but saw no other activity (not even satellites, meteors or aircraft).