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Filipp Romanov
Yuzhno-Morskoy, Nakhodka, Russia
12/09/2022
06:33 pm

Image Details:

Rocket exhaust above the Sea of Japan

On 08:10 UT of December 9, 2022, from my small homeland (Yuzhno-Morskoy, Nakhodka, Russia), I saw a low-contrast white trail above the sea and immediately assumed that it was an exhaust from a rocket. The Sun was about 6.5 degrees under the horizon.

When I took my camera Canon EOD 60D and started taking pictures, it was already 08:24 UTC (the Sun was about 9 degrees under the horizon)

This exhaust field looked very impressive: I saw iridescence in different colors, the right part of the structures looked like technogenic noctilucent clouds. It was up to 11 degrees above the horizon in the sky in the Southwest.

My timelapse video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uByWR5edPKk

It was visible before 08:57 UTC, when the Sun stopped illuminating this exhaust at 14.5 degrees under the horizon.

Possible it was a trail from the rocket Jielong-3 (“Smart Dragon-3”) launched from a mobile sea platform in the Yellow Sea on 06:35 UTC by China: https://spacenews.com/china-launches-14-satellites-with-new-solid-rocket-from-mobile-sea-platform/