Iridium Flares

This is an interesting phenomenon...there are approx. 77 Iridium satellites. Each one has two large solar panels that are highly reflective. When the sun hits them just right shortly after sunset, a very bright "flare" appears in the sky for about 5-10 seconds. It looks like a very bright shooting star. See http://satobs.org/iridium. ...

Updated: Apr 20, 2005 9:26pm PST

Geminid Meteor Shower (12/13/04)

Updated: Dec 13, 2004 11:36pm PST