A star that flashes or only blinks brightly twice?

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m.leigh87

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So. My boyfriend & I started star gazing & the two times we have been out so far we have seen a quick flash. Not bright like lightning, but it looks like star flashes. It only happens twice & then it is gone.

Could it be a star exploding or what? Very interesting. Please help!
 
...is generally a plane. It could be a satellite but usually satellites aren't very bright. The space station at times can get as bright as Jupiter is when it is in the sky. You could always check nasa.gov and click the link for the space station and see if it is in your area.
 
There haven't been any supernovae in our galaxy (that is, visible to the naked eye) in about 400 years. So no, that's not what you're looking at. Sounds more like a star twinkling, or the blinking lights of a plane.
 
Whatever it is, it is not a star, since stars don't change brightness over the normal time span you might be watching. More likely it is an artificial Earth satellite of some kind. The Iridium series of telecommunications satellites are well known for their bright flashes when the Sun glints off their solar panels. Predictions can be found here:
http://www.heavens-above.com/
 
it could be a star exploding but some stars in space are probably dead we are just seeing them now because we are so far away from them and light travels fast but it depends on how far you are away from that certain star. like the sun it is a star it takes around 8 minutes for its light to hit earth. or it could be the other planets like venus saturn and the others. i think the universe is amazing in so many ways oh one more thing it could be our own atmosphere messing things up because we have a very messy atmosphere
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Nodwb0v...
if you're interested in what goes on in the sky, this link will show you some really cool stuff. And yes. It could've been a nuetron star being formed by an explosion. But, remember if it was, it probably happened ten or twenty years ago and the light is just now reaching you! :D
P.S. youtube has all kinds of cool stuff on space, black holes and astronomy!
 
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