2017-01-28 - Canberra (Australia) - Flash

My daughter and I where observing the Pleiades star cluster last night at 23:00, when was a bright light appeared, brighten to the luminosity of a meteorite, then faded to disappeared within one second. It was almost like a meteorite was coming directly to us which is possible but highly unlikely.

I am an avid night sky observer and was using a Nikon 10X50 60 degree binoculars last night to observe various star constellations in our southern Australian sky. For instance, I have observed the International Space Station about 30 times, so I am familiar with the brightness and movement of the ISS. The object I observed last night did not move or have a trail like a meteorite.

My daughter was observing the Pleiades star cluster and noticed the bright light appearing and disappearing as well.

I would be interested if anyone else observed this object here in Australia.

Thanks for your effort tracking these observations.


((NUFORC Note: Possible flare of an Iridium satellite. PD))