This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.space.com/spacex-rocket-launch-blue-spiral-photo
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us
A New Zealand resident noticed a “bizarre but very cool” blue spiral above her home following a SpaceX launch on Sunday (June 19).
Clare Rehill photographed the spiral within the sky above Queenstown, a city on New Zealand’s South Island. She posted (opens in new tab) the picture on Twitter early within the morning her time on Monday (June 20), speculating that “it is received one thing to do with SpaceX.”
Her instincts had been good. The sky present got here courtesy of a two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday at 12:27 a.m. EDT (0427 GMT), carrying a communications satellite tv for pc for the Louisiana-based firm Globalstar to orbit.
The spiral was generated by the Falcon 9’s higher stage, and Rehill was not the one one to seize its actions on digital camera.
Related: SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation launches in photos
Jarred Wood of Illinois took this video (opens in new tab) through the satellite tv for pc’s orbital insertion, displaying a “smoke ring” over the Prairie State. (He shared it with Spaceweather.com (opens in new tab), which gave permission to host it right here at Space.com.)
“The smoke ring Wood saw was the ‘puff’ of separation,” the web site’s astronomer Tony Phillips wrote (opens in new tab). “At the time, the rocket was more than 1100 km [680 miles] high, so people were able to see it across much of North America.”
As for the spiral seen in New Zealand, the galaxy-shaped characteristic was as a result of higher stage of the Falcon 9 venting leftover gas because it fell naturally into the Pacific Ocean. (Unlike the Falcon 9 first stage, which lands after launch for refurbishment and reflight, the rocket’s higher stage is expendable.)
“The upper stage was probably spinning on its longest axis to stabilize flight orientation, hence the spiral shape,” Spaceweather.com wrote (opens in new tab). “Similar spirals have been seen after previous Falcon 9 launches.”
@Alasdair_Burns noticed this lovely rocket exhaust spiral within the sky over Stewart Island this night #area #SpaceX #NewZealand pic.twitter.com/Gv2XpcK3IiJune 19, 2022
SpaceX launches have produced different fairly patterns within the sky as effectively. In May, for instance, a Falcon 9 launch of SpaceX Starlink web satellites produced a “space jellyfish” within the predawn sky over Florida’s Space Coast.
This phenomenon occurred as a result of the gasoline within the rocket’s engine nozzles was at a better strain than the encompassing air; the rising solar, slightly below the horizon, then illuminated the plume, Chris Combs, a professor of aerodynamics and mechanical engineering on the University of Texas at San Antonio, defined on Twitter (opens in new tab).
SpaceX’s Globalstar launch was the third in about 36 hours for the corporate. The firm launched 53 Starlink satellites on Friday (June 17) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and a radar satellite tv for pc for the German army from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Saturday (June 18).
Editor’s observe: If you captured a surprising view of the SpaceX launch and need to share it for a picture gallery or story, tell us! You can ship photos and feedback in to [email protected].
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook.
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.space.com/spacex-rocket-launch-blue-spiral-photo
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us
Elizabeth Howell
