They have large polished antennas the size of doors--at times when they line up right to reflect the sun, they can produce some very bright sightings.

Heavens-above.com is great for knowing the time and location of Iridium flares. There are also iphone apps for it.

I was at the beach with a sister who is into a variety of woo. Having determined the time and location of a good flare that evening, I told her that I could sense meteors. Then, I counted down the seconds, pointed to a spot in the sky, and there it was.

What surprised me was how many people saw me do that and asked me how I could sense meteors in advance.

"Just a weird feeling I get."

I'll have to give it a try.

Did it to some of the neighbors too.

The important thing is to have your watch synchronized to WWV.

...download from www.stellarium.org, set your location, switch on the satellites and rewind to the right time.

of a bus

JTrack is back!

That is my favorite tool for visualizing satellites in Earth orbit. You can click on any satellite you like to see its orbit, zoom in and out, change viewpoints...