What makes a bright star-like blink in the night sky, a meteor?
Asked by
Zaku (
30354
)
August 5th, 2019
Last night I was looking west at the night sky and saw a blink – like a bright star (brighter than other stars) for just an instant. The sky was clear and there was no aircraft there and no further blinks.
I also saw that once while watching the meteor showers last week, and I have seen it before… I notice that in all cases I was facing west, but I face west a lot ( ;-) ). Usually meteors seem to appear as streaks of moving light, though, not a pinpoint blink.
Any notions what these probably are? Is it just what smaller meteors look like because they burn up even faster? Or space junk hitting the atmosphere because it has lower lateral velocity? Something else?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
14 Answers
You very likely saw the reflection of the sun off of a satellite, especially in the hours after nightfall, when the sun is well beyond the horizon but still illuminating objects in earth orbit.
A geosynchronous satellite. Like for your TV.
A meteor coming right at you while burning up would blink or glow bright for a second…
That was my thought, that if you don’t see a tail, it is probably coming toward you.
DUCK!
Very interesting, thanks folks!
Actually probably not a geosynchroous satellite as they are 22,236 miles up. But yes, it could be a satellite, or an iridium flare.
Iridium flares are interesting, but what I read said they are seconds long, while the ones I’ve seen recently have just been blinks in one spot, a small fraction of a second.
The suggestion of satellites also has me wonder about the other things I’ve noticed in the night sky recently, which were moving lights that looked like very fast-moving unblinking aircraft at very high altitude, moving west to east directly upwards. Three of them within a few minutes. I was thinking military aircraft maybe – they seemed too fast for jetliners – but then I thought they must be satellites.
But why would some satelities appear as constant lights and others as blinks? Maybe just differences in shape and position.
@Zaku Satellites appear as blinks because they are rotating.
@Zaku No, usually when you see them they flash regularly and move across the sky. I’ve actually photographed them—if I dig one up, I’ll post it.
Have you had your blood sugar checked lately?
@Caravanfan Ah interesting! Yeah so that’s not what my blinks were, because I was watching for shooting stars for quite a while and only saw one of them that night, just one little flash in one spot.
@Patty_Melt No, I live in the USA and since I’m only a senior software engineer, I can’t afford medical services. I do have very good vision though and I’m pretty sure they were actual blinks of light in the sky.
You would not lose visual acuity from occasional drops in blood sugar, but seeing spots, tiny dots, is a very common symptom. They do occasionally present as a dot of light.
So far as medical goes, you can get a basic check up at a clinic for next to nothing.
@Patty_Melt Thanks. If I remember, I will try watching my dark ceiling for star blinks tonight. But I am pretty confident it was actually light in the sky rather than biological illusion.
@Patty_Melt So, I did finally remember to lie awake in my very dark bedroom staring at the darkness of my ceiling waiting for blinks. No blinks.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
