The higher stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket handled stargazers in Europe to a shock show on the evening of June 23, when a plume of rocket propellant briefly turned seen to the bare eye.
SpaceX’s Transporter 14 mission lifted off from California’s Vanderberg Space Force Base earlier this week carrying 70 industrial payloads sure for low-Earth orbit aboard one of many firm’s workhorse Falcon 9 rockets.
The June 23 launch noticed the primary stage of the reusable rocket make a managed touchdown on the droneship “Of Course I Nonetheless Love You” within the Pacific Ocean, whereas the payload-bearing higher stage powered on to its goal orbit.
Transporter 14’s higher stage proceeded to deploy its payloads and launch a plume of rocket propellant previous to re-entering Earth‘s environment, which shortly froze and mirrored daylight, turning into seen to eagle-eyed stargazers in Europe.
Fortunately, the Virtual Telescope Project‘s all sky digital camera captured the diffuse cloud of particles within the night sky above Manciano, Italy at 8:13 p.m. EDT on June 23 (0013 GMT June 24) alongside the softly glowing, mud choked band of the Milky Way.
Oxfordshire-based astrophotographer and science communicator Mary McIntyre additionally recorded a variety of time-lapse movies across the identical time because the plume handed swiftly over the U.Ok., utilizing meteor and aurora-hunting cameras.
Big because of @melgigg for telling me the #SpaceX #Transporter14 #rocket had handed over final evening, leaving a fairly superior #RocketPlume. We bought it on our #MeteorCameras, auroracam & all sky cam. Seems to be superior on the movies!#RocketPlume #RocketLaunch pic.twitter.com/rprGXeig7SJune 24, 2025
Related plumes have been noticed within the wake of previous rideshare missions the place a Falcon 9 higher stage has been ordered to carry out a gas purge. The orientation and motion of rocket higher levels have been identified to create distinctive patterns and majestic swirls within the evening sky, although on this event the propellant lacked any such outlined construction.
Some scientists imagine that rocket propellant could play a component within the formation of excessive altitude ‘evening shining’ noctilucent clouds – a phenomenon that’s extra frequent at northerly altitudes, however has been noticed manifesting nearer to the equator in latest a long time.