SpaceX rocket plume creates another surreal sight over the shore

Photo courtesy of Nick Holland, Wildwood Crest

For the second time this month, a mysterious happening in the sky lit up social media with spectacular images and wild speculation.

Like the pink cloud that appeared over the ocean on the evening of Thursday, March 4, the effect witnessed by thousands early Sunday morning resulted from a rocket launch. The function of the two launches, and the resulting visuals, were much different, however.

According to SpaceX, its Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, ultimately sending 60 Starlink satellites into orbit. During this deployment, a massive plume emanated from the rocket as it soared through the sky a little more than an hour before sunrise. 

Starlink is a satellite-based internet constellation designed to blanket the planet in high-speed broadband. About 1,000 Starlink satellites have now been deployed, with SpaceX planning to grow that number to more than 40,000 (which would be about FIVE TIMES the total number of satellites launched since the dawn of spaceflight).

The above image was captured over the rooftops of Wildwood Crest by our friend Nick Holland. As you can imagine, the scene created quite a stir among those who were up early enough to see it.

Once again, we turned to local astrophotographer Chris Bakley for more insight.

"[The rocket's] trajectory for this launch was directly up the East Coast," Bakley noted. "Shortly after launch, the first stage depleted and separated from the second stage of the rocket. As the second stage ignited, its rocket plume could be seen illuminating in the morning sky. 

"The plume was in the sunlight while we were still in the darkness on earth. That's why it was so bright!"       

Bakley explained that a similar effect can be seen with tracers from rockets launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. But, it's a rare sight to witness.

"I have tried 15 morning launches to try to capture this amazing sight, with no luck," he said. "The trajectory, weather and timing are very similar. Conditions need to be perfect for this to happen. If you spotted it [Sunday morning], I am very jealous!"