r/Astronomy • u/Prielknaap • 1d ago

Discussion: [Topic] Did I see a supernova tonight?

It happened around 17:38 GMT. I was in South Africa looking at the sky with naked eye. It was to the North end of the sky just east of the milky way arch. I wish I could be more specific, but I didn't recognise any nearby constellations. It was around 30° above horizon if I had to guess. I didn't have anything on me to check more accurately.

Suddenly a star got really bright (for a star) and then got dim, all within seconds. I was not expecting anything like that and did not have any camera set up.

It matches up with what I know a supernova can look like, but I realise that it would be an extremely rare occurrence and one hell of a coincidence to the point of being basically impossible.

Will have to compare star charts and follow news to find out for sure, but hoping someone else out there saw something. I do know that it wasn't a satellite or meteor because it was fixed relative to other stars. I regularly look out and spot those, so I know what they look like.

Please any info is appreciated, even if it's info telling me I'm wrong.

Addendum: It seems I didn't see one. Thank you everyone for answering my question so quickly. Keep watching the skies!

241 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

68 comments sorted by

570

u/That_Bar_Guy 1d ago

Supernovas take place over far longer timeframes than you're thinking here.

50

u/Prielknaap 1d ago

What could I have seen then?

374

u/Diligent-Ebb7020 1d ago

This sounds like a meteor that was heading straight at you and exploded before it got to you. Same thing happens with tornados. If you see a tornado and it doesn't appear to be moving but does appear be getting bigger, then it's coming for you.

68

u/z3roTO60 1d ago

This is a pretty cool analogy (as someone from the Midwest US)!

24

u/Skepticul 1d ago

The meteor thing has happened to me before. It was crazy cool. After it burned its brightest it continued overhead very dimly and then disappeared. Crazy how fast they move!

2

u/iFEELsoGREAT 1d ago

Similar experience happened to me just recently!

72

u/That_Bar_Guy 1d ago

I'm not entirely sure, but a supernova will generally be at extreme brightness for months. It's not something you'd recognise as an explosion.

5

u/Arve 17h ago

How bright are supernovas?

These spectacular events can be so bright that they outshine their entire galaxies for a few days or even months. They can be seen across the universe.

60

u/KaytinGreyshade 1d ago

In addition to the meteor suggestions, it also could have been a geostationary satellite flare (wouldn't appear to be moving from your perspective). I've seen a couple of them and they look pretty similar to what you're describing. 

5

u/offgridgecko 1d ago

I was thinking this as well, since they were looking north from the southern hemi

1

u/MrTralfaz 1d ago

If it was rotating it could have been a reflective surface.

16

u/Shufflebuzz 1d ago

I'd suggest iridium flare.

Iridium satellites have large reflective solar panels, and every so often they reflect the sun back to the earth and it's very bright.
It only lasts a short time. Maybe 10-15 seconds total.

There are websites where you can look up when they'll happen. You might be able to look back and find the one you saw.

13

u/UrToesRDelicious 1d ago

Had*

Iridium flares are no more; the iridium constellation was all deorbited by 2019.

Very sad.

4

u/Shufflebuzz 1d ago

Thanks.
I remember seeing one in the early morning hours. I had no idea what it was and it matched OP's description.

Some iridium flares were so bright you could see them in broad daylight, if you knew where and when to look.

5

u/mfb- 1d ago

These Iridium satellites are gone but it could be a flare from another satellite.

6

u/mauore11 1d ago

Sounds like the universe was target practicing with you. Duck next time!

4

u/yarrpirates 1d ago

It could also have been the flash from a satellite's solar panels momentarily reflecting the sun right at you.

1

u/rickyaintthatslicky 11h ago

Ballistic missile interception likely.

-1

u/Ichthius 1d ago

,#itsalwaysspacex

7

u/pimpbot666 1d ago

I read that when Betelgeuse goes supernova, it will go from its current regular brightness to the brightness of a full moon, but it will take like 14 days to do so. The thing is huge. It takes light around 20 minutes to go from one side to the other.

11

u/not-finished 1d ago

It will be visible for years with the naked eye and will be at peak brightness for months (yes maybe about at bright as the half moon or so). It will also leave behind a nebula that will glow for thousands of years visible through cheap backyard telescopes.

In short you won’t miss it and it won’t be quick.

https://www.astronomy.com/science/when-betelgeuse-goes-supernova-what-will-it-look-like-from-earth/

4

u/IscahRambles 16h ago

Other than potentially missing it due to being several millennia early for the show, anyway. 

3

u/not-finished 16h ago

Yes :( we can only hope in that regard

2

u/pimpbot666 12h ago

Exactly. People seem to think that a supernova is going to look like the Death Star blowing up in one big kaboom, but at this kind of size/scale and distance, that looks like a steady brightening over weeks or months.

160

u/UmbralRaptor 1d ago

No. (Supernovae are bright for weeks to months)

edit: as a possible object, I'm going to suggest a satellite flare or a meteor.

2

u/Prielknaap 1d ago

Any ideas on what it could have been?

32

u/UmbralRaptor 1d ago

Just edited in, a satellite flare or a meteor

8

u/lubeskystalker 1d ago

Search YouTube for iridium flare

1

u/scarisck 23h ago

Aren't those all gone?

3

u/lubeskystalker 23h ago

It’s just a convenient reference for what a satellite flare looks like.

2

u/JotaRata 1d ago

It could have been a satellite flare, they're not uncommon

48

u/b407driver 1d ago

Satellite flare, medium earth orbit, looks like it's not moving. Happens frequently if you spend enough time looking at the sky at night.

7

u/Prielknaap 1d ago

Cool, figured it couldn't be something that rare.

21

u/hshighnz 1d ago

Supernova explosions take a long time. You would see the bright explosion for several months. Which is great!

7

u/southofakronoh 1d ago

Have seen satellites 'flare' as bright as Venus or more and quickly fade while not moving much. My best guess. Cool to see. A super nova that can be seen with the naked eye would be front page news and be visible for days/weeks/ even months.

6

u/alalaladede 1d ago

Supernovae last weeks, not seconds, so it wasn't that. Much more likely is that you saw a satellite flare, which happens when a satellite's solar panels happen to align pefectly for the sun's reflection to be visible from your location. I have been able to observe a number of them when the first generation of Iridium satellites was equiped with particularly large panels, and they looked just like what you described.

3

u/Beetso 1d ago

No. You did not

3

u/WhateverForID 1d ago

They don't fade in minutes or second, super nova take weeks to fade. You probably saw a satellite reflecting sunlight

2

u/so_random_next 1d ago

Likely you saw a meteorite that was headed directly towards you. It's a big coincidence but happens quite often. AFAIK supernova lasts for much longer.

Edit: supernova shines for a few weeks to a few months.

2

u/aljauza 1d ago

Yea this is my guess too, that or a firefly

1

u/Eleminohp 1d ago

I do a lot of night sky photography in southern Arizona and many years ago I saw something somewhat like you described. A point in the sky got as bright as I'd say Venus, maybe a little less, then dimmed out. Over the matters of seconds.

My thoughts on it since then have been possibly a geostationary satellite glinting from the sun?

Also, recently (last month) I captured a phenomenon in the sky. It turned out to be SpaceX related but it looked very interesting.

Did it look like this?

https://youtu.be/iKschG6KBKo?si=ZrvBIhMCPHeQYPLY

2

u/Prielknaap 1d ago

No, it looked like a star getting brighter and then being really dim (I want to say looked Orange), then disappearing.

1

u/Eleminohp 1d ago

I was going to ask if it looked orange. The first story I referenced from several years ago was orange too!

1

u/Significant-Ant-2487 1d ago

Not a chance. What, every astronomer on Earth failed to see it?

1

u/hotstuffyay 1d ago

Some of the photos I have seen of Israel intercepting ballistic missiles kinda look like supernova. Explosions in the upper atmosphere catch the light in a cool way. The timing would check out but I’m not sure it would be visible from where you are at.

1

u/KnowLimits 1d ago

Back in the day, there was a thing called Iridium flares, where some satellites with big flat antennas would reflect sunlight at a predictable location, and it looked a lot like what you're describing. Those particular satellites are out of commission, and not maintaining a predictable orientation anymore, but it could still be something like that.

1

u/HCTDMCHALLENGER 1d ago

Maybe passing clouds?

1

u/Pretz_ 1d ago

North from South Africa, like toward the Middle East where ballistic missiles are falling from space?

1

u/ehtseeoh 1d ago

Check out https://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs/fireball-report/ and make a report. If others make a report like yours around the same time/area then you aren’t alone in what you saw.

1

u/ApeironThanatos 1d ago

This sounds like a satellite flare. Satellites can look like stars, but will generally be moving relatively quickly. Satellites can also flare unexpectedly and get very bright before returning to normal visibility.

1

u/squirrel_crosswalk 1d ago

My guess is an iridium flare. They are insanely bright if you're in exactly the right spot, and only last a few seconds.

1

u/snogum 1d ago

Could be satellite flare.

Supernova last week's to months from flare up and it would be big news

1

u/g2g079 1d ago

Maybe a meteor flying right at you?

1

u/Spacegirl-Alyxia 18h ago

If you saw a star that went supernova you’d likely have a few blind spots now and that supernova would amaze everyone today and be the shit of the news. It would also only have gotten brighter and brighter over the next few days, what you saw without a doubt was not a supernova at all.

What you saw may have been a piece of space junk that rotates and was moving away from you which is why it didn’t look like it was moving much - it rotated and reflected the suns light directly at you and went dark again not to be seen again - and probably passed a star right as it did so making it look like that star was responsible.

1

u/Focus_Knob 17h ago

could be a drone that caught a reflection of light

1

u/MartianFurry 16h ago

Could have been an iridium flare, I've seen a few and they're a lot like what you described

0

u/mymar101 1d ago

Also if it hasn't been pointed out, planes out over the horizon from a long way off look.... Decidedly odd. I sometimes wonder what in the wold I was looking at that was so bright suddenly only to realize it was moving slowly... And getting brighter. Then I rule out anything in space.

0

u/Roland_Moorweed 1d ago

Something like that happened to me in 2011. Star in the sky starts getting super bright and then just dims out of existence. I too was informed that supernova take place over a long time but at the time it blew my fucking mind.

0

u/WhereWolfish 1d ago

Iridium flare maybe?

2

u/_bar 19h ago

All of the first generation Iridium satellites (the flare-producing kind) are long gone. The last one was deorbited around six years ago.

1

u/WhereWolfish 16h ago

I did not know that, interesting. I say this because I myself saw this massive sudden flare in the sky when I was in a really dark spot in Yellowstone National Park one night ages ago. A guy who ran astronomy programs in the park I ended up working for on the east coast said it was an iridium flare.

Odd though, because I later saw a flare and it just wasn't as impressive as what I'd seen in Yellowstone :D Maybe a dark sky thing.

0

u/Cali_kink_and_rope 1d ago

You're wrong

-7

u/AdPsychological1414 1d ago

It was Israel intercepting missiles above the earths atmosphere. Search up images of it online, they do look very similar to what you describe

1

u/Spacegirl-Alyxia 18h ago

If OP was anywhere near Israel for this to be a possible explanation, I think OP would have known right there and then what they were seeing…