Here are some of Iridia’s best captures of those beautiful flares. All shots have been taken with the awesome Nightcap App and a smartphone.
Find more than thousand of them – and much better ones from other people from around the world – on Catch The Iridium.

The touristy satellites

SV 97 above Karlskirche. The night was so stormy that the tripod was shaking, so the image is a bit flat and blurry

SV 97 above the Pestsäule, a 17th century monument erected in gratitude that the Great Plague had ended

SV 97 above Karlskirche

SV 97 above the Opera House. The pink transparent streaks are actually the windows of a streetcar that passed by exactly at the time of the flare.

SV 97 looking down on a monument of Maria Theresia. A cheeky green rickshaw whizzed around the site at exactly the time of the flare.

SV 32 above Karlskirche

SV 31 above St. Stephen’s Cathedral

SV 14 peeping out behind Rüdigerhof, an iconic art nouveau building

Flares in the hood

SV 98

SV 97 fights the clouds successfully with a tiny flare

SV 97 big finale before the bonus flares. The humidity in the air gave it a misty halo

SV 97 does not really know what to make of this artwork

SV 97 in what seems to be a faint version of a two-antenna flare

SV 32 also has the respect of the clouds. They know when to give way.

SV 55 fighting the clouds with a barely visible daytime mini-flare – see cropped image

SV 55 – the cropped version of its braveness in bright daylight

Window shots

Tumbling SV 28 travels diagonally through the image in two flares. Another satellite flares slightly above it

Three little dots above the smoke stack: tumbling SV 4

A beautiful and rare occasion: double falre of SVs 58 and 60

Sv 35 takes a steep plunge

A 40 minute startrail that captured SVs 82, 911, 920, the ISS and an unknown flare. You’re welcome!

Out and about

SV 59 flares into an early morning

SV 65 in the bushes

SV 59 says hello to Cassiopeia in a big way

SV 10 is greeted by the somersaulting Globalstar MO42

A flare of SV 33! This is more spectacular than it looks – the satellite was fragmented in a collision

Flare videos

A -4.4 mag flare of Iridium 84 on 13 August 2018 at 03:27 near Vienna, Austria.
The flare seemed much brighter than the -4.4. It displayed a beautiful burst of light: #flarewell

A double flare caught on instant video: Iridium satellites 6 (mag -8) and 51 (mag -5) within 6 seconds (video by Boltonov):

Iridium 97, already retired into parking orbit due to replacement by SV 107, delivered one of the most beautiful flares ever: Due to the bright moon the satellite became visible only very briefly before its flared maxed as it was flying right into the moon and was swallowed by its bright light.

Unfortunately I was not yet aware of the Nightapp Camera at that time. The footage was made with just hitting the record button on an ordinary smartphone and therefore is very poor. But the experience was breathtaking and stunning. You can tell our excitement from the original sound:

Iridium 84, a -7.2 mag flare on the beautiful evening of July 6, 2014 near Vienna.
This is what happens when you find out there’s a flare in 30 seconds and you just point your smartphone camera “somewhere Northeast” 😂
Best viewed on a large screen.In case you have not yet spotted the flare, glue your eyes to the bottom edge of the frame: