Tuesday, November 4, 2025

"WHAT IS THAT IN THE SKY?


Our club had an outreach event tonight at a nearby high school.  We set up our telescopes to show adults and children the full moon and the planet Saturn.  I was setting up my telescope to show a woman and her two children the full moon.  I heard someone say "What is that?"  "Look at that thing in the sky!  What is that?"  So I turned and saw something I had never seen before!  Then a friend said "It's a rocket that was launched from Europe this afternoon."  It was an unbelievable sight!  I had been taking some photographs of people observing with my SONY a7 camera but I had put it back in the car. "Oh well, no camera, no photo..."  Then I noticed that the woman who was waiting to look through my scope was shooting photographs of it with her phone!  So I am a complete dolt!  I immediately grabbed my phone and started shooting!  Here is my shot.  Don has posted that it is an Ariane 6 rocket launched by the European Space Agency this afternoon The Ariane 6 rocket lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, today at approximately 4:03 PM.  What an unbelievable sight this was!  Apparently the rocket was venting unused fuel.


 

2 comments:

Joan Edwards said...

Amazing sight and photo. Hard to imagine a rocket that was launched from Europe. Thank you to your club for hosting these programs.

Anonymous said...

I saw this on the news. It looks so cool!