Re: Pictures of the re-entry
Interesting, but not necessarily conclusive. Simply looking at the intensity of the plume might not be reliable due to atmospheric effects. The top picture shows the plume fading on the right side of the picture due to clouds. There's the possibility that thin clouds might've caused a change in the plume's intensity at other points as well.
That said, I'd still investigate what is shown in the photos. It's entirely possible that the intensity changes are important. All I'm suggesting is that the picture by itself doesn't necessarily prove anything.