Science Questions

Matthew has emailed us with an addition to an answer last week. Matthew in New York

On the 27th edition of the Naked Scientists, John from Clacton said he saw a bright flash in the sky, and wondered if it was a gamma ray burst. Our guest on the show, Mike Hobson, said it definitely couldn't be a gamma ray burst because our eyes aren't sensitive to gamma rays. However, without having seen it, he wasn't sure what it could have been. Matthew says that there are a network of satellites used for a satellite telephone system called Iridium. They're in a low Earth orbit and have large solar panels that can catch sun light and reflect it down to the Earth. They appear as a bright flash that lasts several seconds. This is a potential explanation for what John saw that night.

December 2005