do not know what i saw

last night on my way to dublin, just outside carrick-on shannon, there was a really bright light, like if you saw an airplane, but double the brightness. real real bright. it was just a point of light, lasted for about 3 seconds and vanished. is it possible for metiorites to come straight into the earths atmosphere , so the tail is directly behind the head and thus it is not seen? this thing had no tail. either that or it was an airplane whose headlights blew just as I looked up? any ideas what it was?

Sounds like an iridium flare. Checkout
www.heavens-above.com/ for more times for sightings

That sounds a lot like an Iridium flare, which happens when the sun strikes the solar panel of an Iridium satellite at a particular angle. To see which satellite you might have seen, you can check www.heavens-above.com .

Seán
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looks like it could have been Iridium 54.

www.heavens-above.com/iridium.asp?lat=53...ate=39053.4143518519

says it had a mag of -7. i thought it was really bright though! guess the excitment of it all made it better in my mind! thanks guys!

If you were near the centre path of the flare, then at -7 it would have been WAY WAY brighter than venus..Your lucky you did not crash

girlfriend was driving!! yes, im one of those guys who doesnt mind being carted around by his girlfriend!