Observation 10/4/10

On September 4, 2010, I looked up at the sky from my driveway.  At 8:10 pm, I saw an iridium towards the north in the sky.  An iridium flare is very short and it only lasted for about 15 seconds.  What happened was that I saw a satellite moving fairly quickly in the sky, and then it started getting very very bright.  Then, it became more faint in the sky, to the point where one couldn't see it any more, at least not with the naked eye.  An iridium flare occurs when sunlight catches the reflective antenna of the iridium satellites.  Overall, this iridium flare is an interesting phenomenon, and it was spectacular to observe.