Quick Bright flash in night sky.

[Tombfyre]

Quick Bright flash in night sky. I happened to glance up at the SE sky (i'm in southern british columbia). I saw a quick white flash. Almost like a camera flash.

I dismissed it as a meteor or something destroying itself in the atmosphere. But I read online a bit how a distant supernova would appear. Might this have been one?

 

[Peter the Younger]

I don't believe so - a supernova event would last longer than that.

 

[Bill Morris]

It could be a solar panel of a communication satellite momentarily reflecting sunlight in your direction. They do that sometimes.

 

[Prydonian]

Sounds like you might have spotted an Iridium flare. I've seen a few myself from time to time - they can be quite spectacular!

If you look at the Heavens Above web site, there's a tool that allows you find out about upcoming flares that will be visible from your location.

 

[sojourner]

Yep, Supernovas last for weeks/months, probably the aforementioned satellite.

Did you check to see if it gave you superpowers?

 

[iguana_tonante]

No supernova for sure: they last more than that, and have a distinctly stellar appearance in the night sky.

Moreover, indirect proof for sure, but still relevant to the topic at hand, informations about a visible nova/supernova would have hit the astronomers' network, and I haven't heard any of it.

 

[Brent]

Was it directly up in the sky or on the horizon? Could be a transformer exploding or popping

 

[Lindley]

Optimus! No!

 

[Trekker4747]

I'm seconding the Iridium Flare.

 

[Tombfyre]

hmm.. thanks for the feedback. Seems like that might be it

 

[tharpdevenport]

Was there a trail of smoke behind it and someone off in the distance saying, "My god Bones, what have I done?"?

 

[Hofner]

A bit off-topic but I'm not sure my question warrants a thread by itself.

When was the last time a supernova could be seen in the sky without a telescope or binoculars? The only ones I know of predates the invention of the telescope or maybe my knowlege of 'current' stellar events is REALLY bad.

Robert

 

[Lindley]

A quick Google shows that Supernova 1987a should have been visible to the naked eye.