Is Progress-MS 09 as bright as Stellarium shows it?

[DaDiRa]

Hello, I'm a fairly new stargazer. As I usually do every afternoon, I was messing around on Stellarium to see what is visible from my location tonight. I was scrolling forward in time and I noticed a very bright object making its way past the view. I checked it out and Stellarium says it's Progress-MS 09, launched in July for the ISS. My question is if the data on Stellarium are accurate and if it is actually so bright. I'm also uploading a screenshot of the simulation to make my point.

Edit: Okay, I was able to clearly observe it. Stellarium was pretty accurate about the relative brightness and speed of it. But where can I find more details about this object? Is it in orbit or what?

[lenscap]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

This is a link to the NASA page for Progress MS-09. As far as I know it will be in orbit until Jan 2019.

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/07/progress-ms-09-super-fast-4-hour-rendezvous/

 

 

 

[DaDiRa]

It amazes me how bright it was. Might be a stupid question but this was due to reflections from the Sun, right?

Today is my lucky day I guess because the ISS is also going to be visible in an hour.

[Louis D]

2 minutes ago, DaDiRa said:

It amazes me how bright it was. Might be a stupid question but this was due to reflections from the Sun, right?

Today is my lucky day I guess because the ISS is also going to be visible in an hour.

Yep.  Check out Heavens Above for Iridium flares from satellites for satellite phone service.  The original satellites are being replaced by new ones that don't reflect so brightly, so get out and see an original Iridium flare before they're all gone.

[DaDiRa]

I came back to make a correction. What I saw yesterday wasn't Progress-MS 09 but ISS. Stellarium has these two next to each other (my guess is because it launched in July so it's probably still attached on the ISS - any input will be appreciated, though) and I accidentally clicked on it instead of the ISS. Today I observed it again and realized my mistake. Progress-MS 09 isn't a satellite itself.

 

 

[lenscap]

Yes Progress-MS 09 is one of the regular Russian Soyuz re-supply rockets for ISS. It is docked with ISS at the moment.

The Soyuz rockets are visible with the naked eye before and after docking. They are dimmer than ISS but easy to spot because they "follow" ISS in the same orbit.

MS 09 will undock & re-enter the atmosphere in Jan 2019 taking a now redundant ISS module with it. Both will burn up.