[AstroNet] Reporting an observation

[Greg Roberts]

Good morning

As Willie Koorts pointed out even geostationary, and other high altitude 
satellites can produce very bright naked eye flares under favourable conditions. 
A typical example are the DSP ( Defense Satellite Program) satellites . There 
are of course many others and lists of  satellites that produce such flashes can 
be found on the internet. The brightest one I can recall seeing flashed to about 
magnitude 0 - in fact Im pretty sure I still have the image captured and an 
image showing it in its "normal" state at about magnitude +11.

Such flares or flashes can be compared to the bright flash of sunlight off a car 
windscreen that is quite distant from the observer - in fact any 
shiny/reflective surface can produce a flash of sunlight under the correct 
conditions. This applies to cars, aircraft , satellites -whatever.

Another event worth noting is the satellite eclipse flare season -- when the 
sun, satellite and observer are at the correct angle it is possible to see 
numerous geostationary satellites with the naked eye . As the satellite 
approaches eclipse it will slowly start to flare in brightness and can easily 
reach naked eye visibility for several minutes - for southern hemisphere 
observers this occurs in early-mid September each year.
If there are a string of geosatellites close together it can even look like a 
"pearl of lights" strung across a small arc of sky as they brighten.

Best wishes
Greg