Group Gazing

Yesterday evening, as the sun was going down, there were a group of us out on a walk. I'd checked on HA, and noted a mag -5 flare and the ISS passes. I had a compass with me to make sure I got my orientation correct. So a couple of minutes before the flare, we all stood with a good view of the correct patch of sky, and did some star and constellation spotting in the still quite bright western sky. Gemini, Orion, And a few stars, Sirius being the most obvious. We had a brief discussion about why Betelguese looked red and the scale of what we were looking at. Then at just the right moment, I got everyone looking north, and we all saw the mag -5 flare. The bright ones are always more impressive. I explained what it was we had just seen, and everyone was quite amazed. About half an hour later, after a bit more of a walk, and a bit more constellation spotting. Orion was striding proudly across the sky and was really very clear (when not obscured by the fast moving clouds). I pointed out Leo and Saturn sitting just below. Unfortunatly, no one had any bino's good or otherwise, so couldn't see anything more than points. But, we all turned around and watched the ISS climb gracefully into the sky, pass overhead and into the trees. That was the end of the walk anyway, so no more then. Shortly after the clouds set in good and proper and that was that.