A SpaceX rocket created a stunning pre-dawn image over Florida, resembling a massive luminescent "jellyfish cloud" spreading for miles, caused by the expanding exhaust plume crystallizing in the sky and reflecting sunlight off frozen particles, UNN reports, citing The Guardian.
The phenomenon occurred shortly after the Tuesday launch at 6:33 a.m. Eastern Time of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station.
The launch time, 48 minutes before sunrise at the U.S. Space Force station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, provided a spectacular example of the colorful effect, which is fully visible from Earth only during twilight and dawn launches.
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The rocket’s northeastward trajectory over the Atlantic also allowed residents of eastern states from Georgia to New York to enjoy the spectacle.
NASA posted photographs of the jellyfish cloud on X, the social media platform owned by SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk. Among the hundreds of replies were images taken by skywatchers in several states.
Those who missed Tuesday’s dazzling astronomical show will have another chance to see it next Monday, October 19, when another SpaceX Falcon 9 is scheduled to lift off from the same Space Force station.
The one-hour launch window for the satellite deployment mission opens at 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time, just over half an hour before sunrise at 7:01 a.m.
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