Shuttle hexagon lensflare

During the first few minutes of the rather curious documentary Around the world in 60 minutes, shown recently on BBC Four, there is a stunning short sequence of the Space Shuttle Atlantis (mission STS-132) as filmed from the International Space Station.

As the shuttle slowly approaches the ISS, suddenly a myriad of iridescent hexagon lensflares flood across the screen. It's beautiful.

Here are some screen shots.

Comments

[Thisnorthernboy]

Could this be due to the hexagonal shape of the ISS Cuppola? It's made of 6 identical windows, with one additional central window?

[Thisnorthernboy]

Image of the Cuppola window here...

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2010/05/cupola_iss_open_shutters_middle_crop.jpg

[kosmograd]

Thanks for the comments Thisnorthernboy. I think the hexagon lens flare is caused by the camera lens rather than the shape of the cupola window, a six-bladed aperture gives the hexagon shaped flare.

[Rosswolfe.wordpress.com]

Hi, long time no talk. You might appreciate an article I just translated from the Russian of the German architect Bruno Taut, regarding his intervention into the whole Soviet urbanist/disurbanist debate. He engages the theories of Leonid Sabsovich, Mikhail Okhitovich, Aleksandr Zelenko, and Aleksandr (brother of Boris) Pasternak. You can read it here:

"The Disintegration of the City"

[Rosswolfe.wordpress.com]

Another translation:

Nikolai Ladovskii's "Moscow: 'Historical' and Socialist"