Fuel Cloud after Ariane 5 Rocket Launch

ESA's Ariane 5 rocket was launched on 12 december 2017 at 18:36 UT from Kourou in French Guyana. It carried four Galileo satellites into orbit. 17 minutes after launch, a conspicious small and elongated cloud raced all over the sky of central Europe. Probably it is a fuel cloud of a separated rocket stage from the Ariane 5. The above time lapse was taken with 8 s exposures and 10 s interval total. A small dashed trail is visible in the cloud, the rotating rocket remnant. The observation and identification was confirmed by the netherlands SatTrackCam.
Date: 12.12.2017
Time: 18:53 UT
Exposure: 8 s with 10 s interval
Field: 73 x 45 degrees
Camera: Nikon D3
Optics: 24 mm, f/1.4
Place: Tübingen, Southern Germany
Photos: Till Credner