Was out in a vain attempt to see some Perseid meteors and was on the phone with Nicole when she noticed something weird near the zenith. We believe it was the rocket body from today’s Ariane 6 launch. It was slowly spinning. Didn’t have a whole lot of time, but I was able to grab the camera and get a couple of shots. The star in the shot is Merak in the Big Dipper.
The deorbit burn of the Ariane 6 upper stage occurred at 0235 UTC Aug 13 (10.35 pm EDT Aug 12). Spinup and propellant dump at about 0245 UTC was widely observed in the eastern US and Canada as Ariane 6003 headed north and downhill for reentry over the Indian Ocean half an orbit later
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589.bsky.social) 2025-08-13T04:01:49.505Z
Some shots from the failing all sky camera…
And why not… the Moon. 0 Perseids
