SpaceX jellyfish cloud stuns US east coast after pre-dawn Falcon 9 launch
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launch before dawn on Tuesday produced a giant luminescent 'jellyfish cloud' over Florida, visible to sky watchers along the US east coast from Georgia to New York.
SpaceX jellyfish cloud stuns US east coast after pre-dawn Falcon 9 launch
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launch before dawn on Tuesday produced a giant luminescent 'jellyfish cloud' over Florida, visible to sky watchers along the US east coast from Georgia to New York.
Launch timing created the glow
The Falcon 9 lifted off at 6.33am ET on Tuesday, carrying cargo to the International Space Station. The blastoff came 48 minutes before sunrise at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida - a timing that makes the colorful effect fully visible from the ground.
How the exhaust plume lit up
The display was caused by an expanding plume of fuel exhaust crystallizing in the sky and reflecting sunlight off the frozen particles.
Who saw it
The rocket's north-eastern trajectory over the Atlantic carried the spectacle into view for residents of eastern states from Georgia to New York. Nasa posted photographs of the jellyfish cloud on X, and hundreds of replies included images from sky watchers across multiple states.
Next launch from the same pad
Another Falcon 9 launch is scheduled for Monday, 19 October, from the same space force station pad, for a satellite-deployment mission. Its hour-long window opens at 6.30am ET, little more than a half-hour before the 7.01am sunrise.
