What is it?

[KathyNS]

I have seen lots of these posts: a brief flash with no apparent movement - what is it? Now I get to post my own, but at least I have a photo. I have always been suspicious of the "head-on meteor" explanation, but I don't have a better one, hence my posting it in the Solar System section.

This is from my most-of-the-sky cam, which is a ZWO ASI120MC with the stock 2mm fisheye lens. It takes one frame every minute. Exposure times are automatic and not recorded. With the sky as dark as this example, they are usually in the 10 second range, judging by previous observations of ISS passes. I do use a dark frame, but clearly it is not doing a good job at this gain level.

I have annotated the image to show the Summer Triangle and Jupiter. Compass directions are indicated, as are the NCP and the zenith. The time recorded by the camera is ADT, which is UTC-3.

The mystery object is a bright light between Deneb and Altair. It shows minimal movement during the exposure. It does not appear on the previous or subsequent frame. The motion is way too slow to be a plane or a satellite: they show very noticeable streaks.

Maybe a momentary flare from a satellite, but it would have to be very high to be that slow and to catch that much sunlight, and therefore very big to reflect it that brightly.

Is head-on meteor the only explanation left?

[sdbodin]

I would guess the infamous 'Point Meteor'. I think that I saw one about 40 years ago.

A rare bird,
Steve

[mikemarotta]

Anomaly over Nova Scotia

[KathyNS]

Anomaly over Nova Scotia

LOL!

[notFritzArgelander]

Yes for the head on meteor. They're rare but they have to happen sometimes!

[mikemarotta]

LOL!

My second thoughts were that you might not take it well.
As nFA underscored the intent: it was the head-on view. Of all the directions, it remains possible.
Best Regards,
Mike M.

[notFritzArgelander]

LOL!

My second thoughts were that you might not take it well.
As nFA underscored the intent: it was the head-on view. Of all the directions, it remains possible.
Best Regards,
Mike M.

The only time I "saw a UFO" is best explained by a small cluster of head on meteors.

[turboscrew]

One always learns something new here.

[Groovy2]

my wyze cam V3 catches these every night -
usually see 10+ on nightly time lapse - so there are many/most that are not recorded -
by eye I see about 10x flashes compared to streaking meteors -

Flashes are almost always round - Very Bright - and last One frame -

some are likely satellite flare but I think most are not -

watching V3 cam - One minutes recordings - looking at flashes -
dont really see satellite in flash area -
cam can capture mag 5 ish satellites -

so far I think these are small meteors that are mostly heading in
direction of observer and some are satellite flares -

December 21 /2020 saw a Giant flash - no streak -Round
was about size of penny - Very bright - orange yellow white color
flash lasted 1 second ish that I saw -

was trying to photo TeleStar 1 satellite - 300x zoom lens -
pointed camera to flash area sky took 3 times lapse photo - 10 second each -
One photo has what I think is Blue Sprite lightning - six areas -

my guess is larger meteor mostly heading towards me -
broke into pieces - pieces caused Blue Sprite lightning -

I tried to upload photo to this site but did not work well -
may try again now that im more familiar with photo upload

[GCoyote]

Okay, question for the more experienced observers, would the spectrum of the object help distinguish between a reflection of sunlight vs an incandescent object?

[notFritzArgelander]

Okay, question for the more experienced observers, would the spectrum of the object help distinguish between a reflection of sunlight vs an incandescent object?

Oh, yes! Absolutely! A reflection spectrum would look a lot like the solar spectrum: same absorption lines just broadband modifications of the absolute intensity on wavelength scales much larger than that characteristic of solar lines. An incandescent object would have, roughly, a black body temperature possibly quite different from the Sun and perchance some emission lines from vaporized volatiles, if any.

[Groovy2]

by eye satellite reflection matches light from sun -
on my Dslr satellite color matches sun -

using wyze cam V3 - video is black and white -

Cam records a Bunch of round flashes / fire balls -
flashes are Usually 1 frame - only seen a few that lasted longer -
flash sometimes has lingering sparkles -
some will have secondary flash - usually much smaller -

Cam records these All the time -
watching video I have seen likely over a thousand s -

at first I was saving /adding flashes to shows but flash is
so quick its Hard to See - usually just 3 to 5 x size of stars and Bright -
unless flash is something really big it gets trashed -
did record one that was 10x plus bigger than a big star - pretty Wow -

I will make a flash /fireball video and post it in few days -


Last night 2 of the cams were recording 1 to 3 small meteors per minute -
much of the night - maybe the most active night so far -

Also at 348am there was a Big Bright Flash in sky -
lit up trees and the few thin clouds in sky -
lasted 3 ish seconds -
none of the cams had view of what caused Flash -

my guess is it was meteor directly over head -
if it was it was Big -

No storms in area so dont think it was lightning -
but maybe -

[WilliamPaolini]

Before eliminating that it was a reflection flash from a satellite, best to confirm there were no satellites in the region at the time of the observation. Many websites and apps out there to help with that. Not sure which is best.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_s ... predictors

[KathyNS]

I recorded another one last night. I don't think head-on meteors or even satellite flares (not that Iridium is gone) are that common. I am starting to think that a reflection off a micro-scratch on the acrylic dome is a more likely explanation.