DB> satellite, the observer, and the sun, sunlight reflecting off the
 DB> silvered panels results in the sudden appearance of a dazzingly
 DB> bright, slow-moving, unexpected object that disappears in about
 DB> twenty seconds or less--the perfect culprit to cause UFO sightings.
 DB> The flare-up lasts just long enough for someone to shout "Look!
 DB> Up there!", giving the crowd a few seconds of dazzling brilliance,
 DB> then fading completely from view. (For more information on the
 DB> Iridium flares and to download software to predict them, see
 DB> http://www2.plasma.mpe-garching.mpg.de/sat/vsohp/ iridium.html.)
 DB> Flares from the thirty-four Iridium satellites now in orbit are
 DB> visible sporadically in most locations around the globe, typically
 DB> occurring during the time of evening or morning twilight. When the
 DB> Iridium program is fully deployed, it will consist of sixty-six
 DB> satellites. Hence, the flares can be expected to increase in
 DB> frequency and continue indefinitely. While we are on the subject
 DB> of satellites that mimic UFOs, we should mention Superbird A, a dead
 DB> Japanese communications satellite now adrift in the satellite
 DB> graveyard just outside the Clarke belt of geosynchronous orbit,
 DB> many times more distant than the Iridium satellites. It, too,
 DB> sometimes reflects the sun from both the front and back side of its
 DB> huge solar panels as it tumbles approximately once every
 DB> twenty-three seconds. When the satellite is favorably placed in the
 DB> sky, for a period of about six minutes per evening observers
 DB> can see millisecond- duration pulses of light every 11.6 seconds,
 DB> looking for all the world like a strobe flash hanging in the
 DB> heavens. While not nearly as bright as the Iridium reflections
 DB> because of its great distance, Superbird A is the only object in or
 DB> near geosynchronous orbit regularly visible to the naked eye.
 DB> Because of its distance from Earth, Superbird A can be expected
 DB> to remain in orbit for intervals measured in `eras,' not `millenia.'
 DB> The night sky will continue to glitter with space junk long after
 DB> we're all dead."
 Interesting stuff.  Undoubtably, many U.F.O sighting have more down to earth 
explanations.  Regarding a orbiting object, the clear give away is it lack of 
erratic motion...beuatiful newtonian orbits, it that is transgressed, that it 
is not a satellite. 
--- FMail 1.22
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