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Posted (edited)

One night I was walking home from a friends house looking up at the sky, all of a sudden when I was focusing on one star and It just looked like it randomly had exploded, like as if it expanded and vanished within 1 second, it looked much bigger when it was expanded too, did I witness a star light years away and at that moment just happened to be when time caught up with the star explosion? It still puzzles me and I keep questioning if I really had witnessed a star explosion

Edited by Kingofny1998
Posted

Highly doubtful. There are a lot of supernovae happening all the time because the universe is so damn big (six every second on average I think I remember hearing) but that's in telescopic range, they happen on average once a century in big galaxies. If it was another galaxy that's close by then I suppose it could be possible but it's far more likely that it was something atmospheric imo.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Stellar explosions take days, not seconds.

 

 

What you witnessed was an iridium flare.

 

They are common enough that it is quite possible to see one by chance (I have done so myself), but it is more fun to predict them - to know when and where to look. If you plan it well, you can freak out your friends and make them think you are a god.

 

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/celestial-objects-to-watch/observing-iridium-flares/

 

http://www.heavens-above.com/

Edited by DaveC426913

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