Photographing the Night Sky and ...what is the new light in the sky? Star going nova perhaps?

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Okay, I held back one of my more interesting bits of photo taking in Moab until I could look at the photos a bit more. This is only for the real nerds out there. What I am posting is 2 pictures of the Big Dipper I took on my allnighter in Arches NP. There will be a third picture where I highlight the dipper and the interesting location as well. These pictures were taken in sequence, and each exposure lasted 30 seconds. So, the camera was stationary, but obviously the earth rotates and you can subtly tell the difference when you have the full resolution images and view them quickly back to back. The fourth image I will try to post is an animated gif file to loop so you can see the movement. Anyhow, the real question is...what is the light which appeared suddenly in the second image? No, I don't think it is a UFO. If it is, it must be from the future, no aliens. :-) I ruled out a normal satellite, those show as solid lines, like meteors. Obviously meteors are out too. Ditto a plane, as there is no movement of the light in the sky. It isn't camera noise or an image failure in the camera, all the subsequent pictures are good.
My 4 theories are (1) a geosynchronous satellite which managed to rotate with me enough in that 30 second window, the sun could now hit it, despite it being 4 hours before sunrise. So, not likely. (2) a star going nova and the light just reached earth during that 30 second window. It would still be there in the same spot in the sky tonight most likely, so I plan to try and get out one evening really late and see. This actually happens all the time, but nerdy photographers don't usually look this close at their amateur pics. But someone at NASA or JPL, etc. is watching the sky, so maybe it did just happen? (3) a satellite beaming a light for a brief second of time (who and why?) (4) A pulsating star which has passed directly in front of another star during their orbits and a line of view to earth at that moment. Or (5) a comet coming to wipe out earth. :-) Anyone with some astronomy friends who can shed some light. I am just curious enough to post this, and maybe go out one clear night and see if I can repeat the photo close enough to see if the bright light is still there in the same spot or not.




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