Hi George,
Thanks for your first post.
You will almost have certainly observed a man-made satellite or booster that is
rotating around one or more of its own axes, most likely to be in a geosynchronous
or even a geostationary orbit.
The equatorial band running through that part of the sky is full of them and
we routinely observe them ourselves, including blinking brightly like a lighthouse
every few seconds as they reflect back the sun's rays. Unlike low Earth
orbit satellites that get eclipsed by the Earth's shadow typically not long after
sunset, these high orbit objects can be bathed in sunlight even late at night.
If you are standing at the right place on Earth at the right time, the light will bounce
off the object and reach you, like someone with a signaling mirror.
The best known bright flares that come from satellites are those that come from the Iridium
communications satellites. There are web sites that will provide you with a prediction
as to when to see an Iridium flare. It is not uncommon for them to reach magnitude -8.
For example see
http://www.heavens-above.com/ and look under the links for Iridium Flares.