-8 Iridium Flare
Saturday saw a raw Magnitude -8 Iridium flare over our observatory.
This was in the southeast about 49 deg altitude. Mars was just above it and the group of stars below is the top end of Hydra. The Iridium 47 satellite was visible a few seconds before the flare and a few seconds after. The flare itself lasted only 1-2 seconds at peak intensity.
We get our predictions from http://www.heavens-above.com/iridium.asp with our exact location in lat/long.
The prediction was accurate to within a few seconds, and the experience was a great big WOW!
Updated: Here is the image from our allsky camera of the event:
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The image on the left is just before the event, the one on the right, of the event.
And this is both images alternating with each other.
The iridium flare does not look like -8, in comparison to Mars, but then consider the integrating time of 120 seconds for the non-transient events.
A few minutes later we were treated with a UFO! A tumbling satellite that flashed us 4 times every 10-15 seconds right overhead with an estimated magnitude brighter than -10! Perhaps another dead Iridium satellite?