Around midnight of Aug 23, I noticed a particularly bright star. Then, as I watched it, it faded and disappeared over the course a few seconds.

Usually, when things in the sky fade out, they are moving — meteors, satellites that sort of thing — but this was completely stationary. Must have been a geostationary satellite, people say, but those are extremely high and rare to see, especially this time of year.

Turns out stars can collapse without an explosion, and do so about once a month.