Last night I was out watching the northern lights. decent if not brilliant show. At one point I looked around the sky and saw a bright light traveling north east with an apparent magnitude of around 0.1, about the same as Rigel. There were no flashing lights, so not an aircraft. As I watched, it dimmed over a period of around 1 minute. As it dimmed, a smaller reddish object became visible trailing behind it. It did not dim, but was barely visible. My first thought was an iriduium flare, but the sighting was too long, but looking at the iridium satellites, it may have been a reflection from the solar panels rather than the antennae which is where I understand the brighter flares come from. Wish I’d had a suitable camera. Anyway – anyone got any ideas what it might have been?

A million to one, they said…..

ISS?

Nope, not ISS. In Scotland it rarely rises above 15 deg above the horizon to the SW /SE but this was overhead and passing through the plough when I lost it. Also ISS is bright but constant, brightness isn’t variable the way this was.

iriduium flare

tend to last for a brief duration (a couple of seconds)

may have been a reflection from the solar panels

I’d think about that one again 😉 solar panels are designed to absorb as much light as possible. Not sure if the Iridium panels rotate to always be sunpointing, but my initial guess would be that they do.

rather than the antennae which is where I understand the brighter flares come from

yup that’s where Iridium flares come from.

I’d have a look on heavens above. Plenty of visible satellites. Some even have apparent colour to them too, but those I have convinced myself have colour tend to be orangey, not red.

About quarter to ten last night?
According to the app on my phone it might have been this….

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envisat

Whilst sitting in the hot tub we so loads of *satellites* passing over on a clear night. *I always thought they were satellites is that not the case*
Stay visible for thirty seconds say then slowly fade as they move across the skyline.

Envisat is one of those that appears orangey to me. And would be “barely visible” (ca. Mag 5).
Not sure what it would have been following that would have magnitude around 0 though. How far behind was it trailing?

Satellites, very easy to see and identify. They suddenly extinguish when they pass into the earths shadow.

Tandem x satellites? A constellation of 2 one follows the other…..

I’d think about that one again solar panels are designed to absorb as much light as possible. Not sure if the Iridium panels rotate to always be sunpointing, but my initial guess would be that they do.

wiki says

Flares may also occur from solar panels, but they are not as bright (up to ?3.5 magnitude). Such flares last about twice as long as those from the main mission antennas (MMA), because the so-called “mirror angle” for the solar panels is twice that for the MMAs.

but still not as long as the sighting
so

MetOp-A and B, however, can produce predictable flares up to ?5 mag. Four COSMO-SkyMed satellites can produce flares up to ?4 mag., but their peculiarity is that they last much longer than the Iridium flares.

looks likely. The whateveritwas was already bright when I saw it (it came from the south, I was looking north) so it may have been brighter before I saw it.
Tandem x looks interesting, but there was a bright, dimming white light and and a barely visible but constant orangey red light. On it’s own perchyp’s envirsat would cover it and the time would be about right – maybe just a coincidence that it appeared when it did.Anyway, thanks for the suggestions

I always thought they were satellites

That’s what they Want you to think. Tomorrow you’ll wake up all achey.

And lo! The child will be the son of god!

Also, there are tracker apps available for phones

Also, there are tracker apps available for phones

Star Walk, which is the app I have on my phone, allows you to rewind and fast forward the time and track satellite positions yesterday , tomorrow, last year or next week as required.
That’s how I know that , about a quarter to ten last night, Envisat rose over the southern horizon, tracked north east-ish across the sky, passing through ursa major as it went and disappeared below the northern horison, just as the OP described.
Couldn’t see any others that came close to this so that’s still my bet.
Wikipedia tells me it was switched off a few years ago so the solar panels ( or anything else) likely won’t be tracking towards the sun, perhaps making a flare more likely?

That’s what they Want you to think. Tomorrow you’ll wake up all achey.

😆

I wouldn’t imagine all the satellites up there are trackable on your phone….

😀

Envisat failed in 2012, and is now in an uncontrolled attitude, and the solar array is 101% definitely stopped.
Something orangey about mag 4-5 I think would be the body of the spacecraft itself, and should be quite predictable. Very bright flare (like a dim Iridium flare) would be massive luck I expect.
It’s the “a smaller reddish object became visible trailing behind it” bit that interests me. How far behind?

That’s what they Want you to think. Tomorrow you’ll wake up all achey.

And, in all likelihood, a bit sore…

That’s what they Want you to think. Tomorrow you’ll wake up all achey.

is that what happened to Billy-Ray ?

you’ve probably been probed,… check your bum in the mirror! 😀

It’s the “a smaller reddish object became visible trailing behind it” bit that interests me. How far behind?

1″ – 1.5″ constant . Would probably not have seen it were it not for the brighter object