Sky watchers who've witnessed an Iridium flare rarely forget the experience. Sunlight hits a flat surface on one of the Iridium satellites and--wow!--it looks like a supernova.
Make that two supernovas: On June 5th, Laurent Laveder of Bretagne, France, spotted a pair of Iridium flares in quick succession:
The two satellites were Iridium 7 and Iridium 51, passing overhead only 2 minutes and 30 seconds apart. With a bit of judo photography, Laveder managed to capture both flares in the same image. A larger version of the image also shows Saturn, Mars and the beautifully moonlit Odet River: labeled, unlabeled. |
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