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
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2$\begingroup$ Given the brightness you described, it's possible that you saw the ISS. Its flares could be very luminous. $\endgroup$– 4NT4R3SCommented Oct 19 at 16:32
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1$\begingroup$ @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. $\endgroup$– JohnHuntCommented Oct 20 at 0:27
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1$\begingroup$ 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. $\endgroup$– ProfRobCommented Oct 20 at 8:26
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1$\begingroup$ 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. heavens-above.com/… $\endgroup$– ProfRobCommented Oct 23 at 19:20
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1$\begingroup$ @profrob the pass of tiangong was too low too late $\endgroup$– HarrychinkCommented Oct 23 at 21:49
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1 Answer
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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)
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.
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1$\begingroup$ I have seen tiangong before and this was significantly brighter, seemingly brighter than alpha centauri $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 23 at 8:09
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1$\begingroup$ 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 $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 23 at 8:21
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1$\begingroup$ Tiangong was going the wrong direction and was too late to be the mystery light though, the light I saw went south to north $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 23 at 8:27
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1$\begingroup$ "okay, dunno then." and so is "Most likely it was the Tiangong the Chinese spacestation" simply wrong? $\endgroup$– uhohCommented Oct 25 at 4:14