Expert: James Gort - 2/26/2007

Question
Yes, there may be (and probably is) a mundane explanation for what I saw.  

I live fairly close to a large airport, so I am familiar with airliner lights.  I see them all the time.  What I saw was about 40 degrees above the horizon, directly to the south (the airport is to the east), and it appeared to be motionless. Naturally, there were no other witnesses!

So as far as you know there are no astronomical events that produce what I experienced?   

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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I recently saw what appeared to be a normal star whose brightness intensified perhaps tenfold, then faded to the point of disappearing, all within maybe one minute.  What did I see?

-----Answer-----
Hi Jim,

This is difficult to determine, but I don't think it was a star.  If it was fairly low in the sky, it was most likely a distant plane with its landing light directed right at you.  That can seem to brighten and then totally disappear fairly quickly.  I've seen that many times myself.  Another possibility is a satellite that could have emerged from behind a cloud, and then went into the earth's shadow (causing it to disappear).  We may never know for sure, but those are at least two possibilities.  Hope that helps.

Prof. James Gort


Answer
Hi Jim,

Yes, I can confirm there's no astronomical phenomena which meets that description.  Except one last idea, but it would be extremely rare.  If it was motionless, it could have been a relatively slow moving, large meteor, headed towards you along your line of sight.  That could have been visible for a minute, and would have increased in brightness ten or more times.  But that's only a wild guess.  It definitely was not a nova or "exploding star".  Again, that probably doesn't help much, but at least you know one thing it wasn't!  

Prof. James Gort