Help me identify this transiently bright light I saw in the sky, if you please.
The Mrs. and I were out in the hot tub last night about 9:15 PM central time, and I was looking to the east, at the stars over Lake Michigan.
Suddenly, a very, very bright ‘star’ caught my eye. It certainly had not been there seconds earlier, not at that brightness level. It outshone ever other star in the sky, and was certainly brighter than I’d ever noted Venus to be in the past.
And it was moving, in an ESE direction.
The flare died out after maybe 4 or 5 seconds, leaving a very faint moving ‘star’ which continued to track slowly and steadily in an ESE direction, where it remained visible for perhaps another 20-30 seconds before I could no longer see it.
It was definitely not a Coast Guard helicopter, it was far too high, with too smooth of a track.
It might have been an aircraft, but I saw no other navigation lights, nor could I see a contrail, which is often visible even at night.
It didn’t look like any shooting stars I’ve often seen, in that it didn’t break up, and it faded away quite slowly, rather than burning brightly then vanishing.
It could have been some other type of satellite, I suppose. But I’m hard-pressed to explain why it would be so bright so briefly.
My only explanation was that I saw the Space Shuttle, and observed it doing an engine burn for a brief period. Reasonable? True?
Astro-dopers? Can you solve this for me?