some bright flashes near Jupiter this morn

[BENHINSPETER (Ben)]

Howdy All,

Got up this morning to look for Venus but its still behind those trees.

But Jupiter looked sweet!

Then, maybe around 0550, I saw a bright flash to the left and a few degrees higher than Jupiter. So by Stellarium, sort of in between Perseus and Taurus, maybe about 20 deg from the horizon at my latitude (Tindal NT).

I then saw it twice more moments later seeming to move right, each time a little closer to Jupiter. Ofcouse I wanted to see this through my bino's so I scanned the proximity but there were either no more flashes or I missed them with my FOV.

So..Satelite? Im putting my money on that. When I came inside, Stellarium showed that OAO3 (Copernicus) was nearing Jupiter but it was travelling in the wrong direction.

It was cool to see it...anyone else see it?

Cheers

Ben.

[mozzie (Peter)]

sounds like satelites !!!!!! and some may have been iridium flares especially to the east and low on horizon...well spotted..

some evenings it's nice to just sit and watch them cruse on by...

[BENHINSPETER (Ben)]

iridium flares?

oh go on...some one do tell...what are these iridium flares of which you speak?

[DavidU (Dave)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satelli...atellite_flare

[mozzie (Peter)]

Originally Posted by BENHINSPETER

iridium flares?

oh go on...some one do tell...what are these iridium flares of which you speak?

goto heavens-above.com and have a look !!!!!!!!!

[BENHINSPETER (Ben)]

Nice!

It was pretty cool to see, you would be lucky to catch them during the day but that would also be cool.

Thanks guys