Their flares can be especially short, lasting only a quarter-second. Some of the first-generation satellites have gone offline and are tumbling in orbit. These fleeting flares can be so bright that you can even spot them during the day if you know exactly where and when to look. For a few seconds, they can outshine nearly anything else in the night sky, even the International Space Station and Venus, the brightest planet visible to the unaided eye. The star-like point normally shines just at the threshold of human vision from a dark sky.īut at the right angle, these flares can surge in brightness. The flares are a brilliant product of three large silver-coated antennae perched on each satellite.įor a few seconds at a time, sunlight glints off these mirror-like panels in just the right way that the satellite appears as a dazzling point of light anywhere from 5 to 20 seconds at a time. Brilliant Burstīackyard sky-watchers have been enjoying Iridium flares since the first launch. But the latest models will not produce the same impressive flares, which means the sky show will cease when the updated network is complete in 2018. The new Iridium satellites are designed to replace this aging network and offer a much needed upgrade to global satellite telephone capabilities. The flares are caused by sunlight bouncing off Iridium communication satellites, a constellation of 72 probes launched between 19. Known as Iridium flares, the brief but dramatically bright flashes are predictable night sky events easily seen with the naked eye, even under heavily light-polluted city skies. Earlier this month, SpaceX successfully launched the first set in a new generation of communication satellites-and signaled the end of a popular sky-watching phenomenon.
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