https://www.i-club.com/forums/bay-area-15/did-anyone-else-see-sky-flash-green-tonight-199129/

 

Also, iridium flares do not illuminate the entire sky, they are just as the name says, a flare, or a small spot.

Iridium flare theory: debunked.

 

they are finally here. they were supposed to arrive on December 12th, 2012. they are early.

 

All right, Daniel, there was no alien. The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus.

 

Some Iridum flares are small, yes, but some have been known to light up the night sky in something like i described... Something like the international space station which isn't an ordinary satellite could generate such light, that thing is huge and has a lot of reflecting surface, and it just happened to happen when the space station was above the bay area... Im not the only one who thinks it was an iridium flare either, look at any astronomy message board on the same topic.

 

^ haha

 

I don't typically turn to forums for research

From the publication Astronomy
Now, I'm not really into astronomy, so I'm not up on the latest changes to the ISS, but this portion of an article (which was about Mars actually) it sounds like the ISS does not produce flares.

 

sorry, it was my parents coming to pick me up. they got lost. again. so embarrasing........

 

According to the way that was phrased, it does sound like that but even my astronomy teacher was telling us about how the old MIR station would reflect sunlight off it's solar panals and create earth visible light flares, so I figured the international space station would do the same.

You could be right and it could be two different things, I'm not that brushed up on my astronomy, but the international space station could just be a coincidence and it could have been a standard iridium flare just really bright as they have known to light up the night sky in the past. when conditions are right it is possible, and seeing how this hardly ever happens it could very well be an iridium flare.

Trust me, I wish it was something cool, I really, really wish it was something cool but things like that don't tend end up being as cool as one would wish. Sadly.

I have been into astronomy since I was a little kid when my father and I would look at stars and such and when I got into high school (nerd moment) I founded and was the president of the astronomy club and is what I originally majored in during college... Astronomy and physics... Then in my 3rd year math got so ridiculous that I changed majors, but I never stopped attending lectures or going to astronomy shows, etc. It's such a fascinating subject and I always think back and wonder what would have happened if I had received my degree... I prolly wont wouldn't have my STi or know my wife, thats for sure... So Im glad things worked out the way they did!