Flare - not listed on heavens above

Just steped out the back for a cig - saw a very bright 'star'. It is not usually there so I watched it, it dissapeared within 40 seconds (the first stage seemed to 'step down' but I had put my glasses on) then it faded to nothing.

At first I thought yhea my first Iridium Flare! Checked with www.heavens-above.com that wasn't it, checked everything else supposed to be visible and nothing got close.

I saw:
Time: 22.55 (ish) BST
Location: 50.3928°N, 4.0342°W
Azimuth: NE (possably more towards the E) there are 4 stars near this, they form a delta pointing right (up a bit)
Alt: something like 40 - 50 deg

Useless I know. But I only wanted to go for a smoke! Thinking metior?? its 25 mins later now and no big bang - so thats good! (I was split between posting this and watchin the skys)

Any one?

Edit to add: weather is very nice, high level haze. can see the bright stars clearly, not the less bright ones, no chance of seeing the dim (er) ones.

[edit on 18/7/2007 by Now_Then]

Keep in mind Heavens Above does not track all satellites - there are plenty more in orbit besides the Iridiums.

It's safe to assume that it was not a meteor if it lasted 40 seconds. Even 10 second meteors are very few and far between.

I've seen meteors which made my jaw drop, and there have been no "bangs". Occasionally, a super bright meteor enters the atmosphere and survives for long enough to be heard - whitenesses often describe a sound like rolling thunder between 2-5 minutes after seeing the event. The vast majority burn up long before they can get low enough for any sound to reach the ground.

Meteors like that are usually at least as bright as a full moon, even approaching the brightness of the sun, and they leave "persistent-trains" hanging in the sky in their wake for minutes after they themselves have gone - you'd know about it if you saw one of these! Events like this have a good chance of making it to the ground, and leaving a meteorite, but they are considered "once in a lifetime" events (if you are lucky).

Funnily enough, a large meteor was just reported on the 17th over Canada.

Try watching this years Perseids meteor shower, which peaks on the night of Sunday the 12th of August/Monday morning. Saturday should be quite good too if you have work on Monday. The Perseids usually put on a very good show, and this year should be no exception. Some of the Perseids can be very bright (and colorful), and they often leave glowing persistent trains in their wake.

Hope this helps. Check out the post I made in this thread the other day for a bit more info.