Tumbling Soyuz Rocket from Egyptsat-2 launch

[ralfvandebergh]

A fascinating object for high resolution photography is this tumbling Soyuz rocket upper stage from an Egyptsat-2 launch in April. This result is stunning. We see the tumbling upper stage from over 700 kilometers distance in orbit. We can see the flashes of reflected sunlight as the rocket is rotating in the attitude were it reflects sunlight right to the camera. This is with naked eye and binoculars visible as a flashing satellite. But this video shows beautifully in high resolution how the flashes actually are produced.
 
Tracking, as always done fully manually with secondary scope and crosshairs is extra challenging with these flashing objects; We see it only very short, at the moment of these flashes, so you almost have no time to align the crosshair at the object at the moment you see it!
 
http://s17.postimg.org/ywc73fjsf/Egyptsat_rocket_20140624.gif

The second movie shows another part in the pass but at a worse moment of atmospheric seeing, so it has a slight double image. It is still impressive..
 


 
Ralf Vandebergh

[Danderman]

OK, I have to ask what is so shiny?

Is it simply a matter of the long axis being brighter when at the appropriate sun angle, or is there some shiny object on the stage that reflects more light?