Help needed in identification of a bright object

From: Christian F. Ackermann (chracker@mail.uni-mainz.de)
Date: Mon Aug 31 2009 - 20:19:14 UTC

  • Next message: Christian F. Ackermann: "Re: Help needed in identification of a bright object"

    Dear all,
    maybe someone can help me in identifying what this could have been:
    
    Location of observation: Mannheim, Germany +49.5055 -8.4712
    Time of observation: Saturday August 29 2009, 20:30 local time (18:30 
    UTC; according to my wife ± 10 minutes because it was already too dark 
    to read her watch precisely).
    
    (A limiting factor to my observational capabilities might have been the 
    fact that I was on a music festival, had already drunk two beer and was 
    talking to some people)
    
    Looking straight up, approximately at the zenith, there was a bright 
    white star-like spot that did not scintillate and was clearly in the 
    negative magnitude range. It didn't appear as bright as Jupiter did that 
    night (-2.8 mag) against a black sky but against the civil twilight sky 
    it appeared maybe half that bright. I could observe the object for 
    several minutes (2 to 5) and during that time I could not notice any 
    movement (I did not have visible references like a roof or other stars 
    in close vicinity to that object) or change of brightness. Finally I 
    looked up again and the object was gone. I checked the sky periodically 
    for 5 to 10 minutes after that but it did not appear again.
    
    If it was a satellite it must have been at very high altitude. Around 
    the time of my observation Navestar 25 (1992-019A) was close to the 
    zenith. Is it possible that a Navestar satellite can cause such a bright 
    flare? Do these satellites flare at all?
    
    Christian
    
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