See a satellite sparkle in the morning sky
The Iridium 23 satellite will flash briefly but brightly early Thursday morning high in the southern sky near Saturn and Mars.
The event, known as an Iridium flare, will take place at 5:51 a.m. about halfway up the sky.
Iridum satellites have large, very reflective antennas that occasionally bounce the sun’s light back down to Earth. After the sun and the moon, they are among the brightest objects in space.
Sharing the sky will be Mars, in the left claw of Scorpius the scorpion, and Saturn, to the left of Mars. The Iridium flare will be to the left of Saturn.
Mars has a brightness or magnitude of minus-3, while Saturn shines at plus-1, about the same as Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius. By comparison, the Iridium flare will be at minus-8, many times brighter than Mars.
Venus will be rising over the eastern horizon, while a nearly full moon will be low in the west.
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The sun will rise about 6:30 a.m.
2 responses to “See a satellite sparkle in the morning sky”
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Thanks for the heads up on this.
Just watched my first iridium flare. While interesting, it was little underwhelming. No where near as bright as I thought it was going to be. It did pass near Saturn and Mars so a small bonus there. It appears as a short streak, not a single point. The rest of the day is probably all downhill from here.