2 sightings

(1) Last evening (Wed.14th @ 1937 PDT) I witnessed my first
Iridium flare. It was Iridium 17 and was quite impressive.
Flare occurred exactly on time as per Heavens-Above and
was quite bright for 6-7 secs. and then steadily decreased
and disappeared completely in about 10 more secs.  I had 
never really tried to see one before but will do so more
often from now on.  There is a daytime flare scheduled for
Sun. 19th a little after 3 pm (my location Las Vegas, NV)
and I am looking forward to seeing that one.

(2) I read a newsgroup posting about the Shenzhou 5
satellite being visible from my location this morning and
again VOILA! right on schedule I saw it transit from the
Northwest to the Northeast at 6 am PDT.  My vision is not
all that good and most of my sightings are via binoculars
as was this one.  My wife does a lot of viewing with me and
she has good eyesight and most often will see a satellite
before I do and she will then get me looking at the proper
spot.  This was the case with this one.  She saw it first.
This is a notable sighting (for me) because as I understand
it will be gone from the sky shortly and therefor never to
be seen again by anyone.... but I saw it!!!

Sorry for the rambling.  Just wanted to share my experiences.

Tony