<p>Most likely it was the Tiangong the Chinese spacestation, which passed over your area that night, at a fairly noticable -0.7 magnitude (as bright as the brightest stars, not as bright as Venus)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.heavens-above.com/passdetails.aspx?lat=-36.0846&amp;lng=149.8975&amp;loc=Unnamed&amp;alt=0&amp;tz=AEST&amp;satid=48274&amp;mjd=60602.4071165631&amp;type=V" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.heavens-above.com/passdetails.aspx?lat=-36.0846&amp;lng=149.8975&amp;loc=Unnamed&amp;alt=0&amp;tz=AEST&amp;satid=48274&amp;mjd=60602.4071165631&amp;type=V</a></p>
<p>A &quot;flare&quot; is when a satellite's flat and reflective surface catch the light, they often appear as a sudden brightening of a satellite.  What you describe might not be a &quot;flare&quot;.  The &quot;going out&quot; happens as the satellite moves into the Earth's shadow.</p>
<p>There are other satellites and space junk that are visible, notably the ISS, but it wasn't over your location at about 8pm on the 19th.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-23T08:09:56.853Z
I have seen tiangong before and this was significantly brighter, seemingly brighter than alpha centauri
Harrychink
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-23T08:21:45.000Z
Though this light was higher in the sky than when I previously observed tiangong and I wouldn’t discount a thin cloud potentially dimming alpha centauri
Harrychink
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-23T08:27:41.553Z
Tiangong was going the wrong direction and  was too late to be the mystery light though, the light I saw went south to north
Harrychink
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-23T22:21:28.397Z
okay,  dunno then.
James K
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-25T04:14:59.667Z
"[okay, dunno then.](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/58730/was-what-i-saw-a-satellite-flare#comment135743_58736)" and so is "Most likely it was the Tiangong the Chinese spacestation" simply wrong?
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-20T09:22:56.920Z
2024-10-20T09:22:56.920Z
James K
<p>It was a light slightly dimmer than venus but slightly brighter than Alpha Centauri that moved reasonably quickly, a bit faster than an average plane, passing through scorpius(though scorpius was not visible at the time, fluctuated in brightness somewhat and then went out, it had no tail or other noticeable features.<br />
NSW 19th october, around 8pm.
Edit: I was in Wellington at the time but I did not want to let strangers know I was away from home as to avoid thieves</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-19T16:32:47.240Z
Given the brightness you described, it's possible that you saw the ISS. Its flares could be very luminous.
4NT4R3S
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-20T00:27:41.820Z
@4NT4R35; In addition, the ISS seems to move across the sky fairly quickly, given its relatively lower orbit.  Plus the fact that he seems to have observed it for a length of time, I would think that's a good guess.
JohnHunt
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-20T08:26:32.850Z
You need to give your location of course. You can check yourself using websites that give (accurate, in my experience) predictions of satellite flares at your location.
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-23T19:20:42.423Z
Both the ISS and Tiangong were observable on the evening of the19th (as you could easily confitm). Tiangong had a magnitude of -2.3 and went nearly overhead. https://www.heavens-above.com/AllSats.aspx?lat=-41.2888&lng=174.7772&loc=Wellington&alt=0&tz=NZST
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-10-23T21:49:12.077Z
@profrob the pass of tiangong was too low too late
Harrychink
<artificial-satellite><satellite><naked-eye><flare><twilight>
Was what I saw a satellite flare?
Harrychink
# Was what I saw a satellite flare?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-10-19)

It was a light slightly dimmer than venus but slightly brighter than Alpha Centauri that moved reasonably quickly, a bit faster than an average plane, passing through scorpius(though scorpius was not visible at the time, fluctuated in brightness somewhat and then went out, it had no tail or other noticeable features.  
NSW 19th october, around 8pm.
Edit: I was in Wellington at the time but I did not want to let strangers know I was away from home as to avoid thieves

**Tags:** artificial-satellite, satellite, naked-eye, flare, twilight

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Given the brightness you described, it's possible that you saw the ISS. Its flares could be very luminous.  
> **username_2**: @4NT4R35; In addition, the ISS seems to move across the sky fairly quickly, given its relatively lower orbit.  Plus the fact that he seems to have observed it for a length of time, I would think that's a good guess.  
> **username_3**: You need to give your location of course. You can check yourself using websites that give (accurate, in my experience) predictions of satellite flares at your location.  
> **username_3**: Both the ISS and Tiangong were observable on the evening of the19th (as you could easily confitm). Tiangong had a magnitude of -2.3 and went nearly overhead. https://www.heavens-above.com/AllSats.aspx?lat=-41.2888&lng=174.7772&loc=Wellington&alt=0&tz=NZST  
> **username_0**: @profrob the pass of tiangong was too low too late  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-10-20. Score: 1

Most likely it was the Tiangong the Chinese spacestation, which passed over your area that night, at a fairly noticable -0.7 magnitude (as bright as the brightest stars, not as bright as Venus)

<https://www.heavens-above.com/passdetails.aspx?lat=-36.0846&lng=149.8975&loc=Unnamed&alt=0&tz=AEST&satid=48274&mjd=60602.4071165631&type=V>

A "flare" is when a satellite's flat and reflective surface catch the light, they often appear as a sudden brightening of a satellite. What you describe might not be a "flare". The "going out" happens as the satellite moves into the Earth's shadow.

There are other satellites and space junk that are visible, notably the ISS, but it wasn't over your location at about 8pm on the 19th.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I have seen tiangong before and this was significantly brighter, seemingly brighter than alpha centauri  
> **username_0**: Though this light was higher in the sky than when I previously observed tiangong and I wouldn’t discount a thin cloud potentially dimming alpha centauri  
> **username_0**: Tiangong was going the wrong direction and  was too late to be the mystery light though, the light I saw went south to north  
> **username_4**: okay,  dunno then.  
> **username_5**: "[okay, dunno then.](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/58730/was-what-i-saw-a-satellite-flare#comment135743_58736)" and so is "Most likely it was the Tiangong the Chinese spacestation" simply wrong?  

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