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Credit & Copyright: Michael Cain
Explanation:
The launch of a rocket at sunrise can result in unusual
but intriguing images that feature both the rocket and the Sun.
Such was the case last month when a
SpaceX
Falcon 9 rocket
blasted off from NASA's
Kennedy Space Center carrying
53 more
Starlink satellites into
low Earth orbit.
In the
featured launch picture,
the rocket's exhaust plume
glows beyond its projection onto the distant
Sun,
the rocket itself appears
oddly jagged,
and the Sun's lower edge shows peculiar
drip-like ripples.
The physical
cause of all of these effects is
pockets of relatively hot or rarefied air
deflecting sunlight less strongly than
pockets relatively cool or compressed air:
refraction.
Unaware of the Earthly show, active sunspot
region 3014 -- on the upper left -- slowly
crosses the Sun.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Sun - rocket
Publications with words: Sun - rocket
See also:
- Rocket Engine Fireplace
- APOD: 2024 September 2 Á A Triangular Prominence Hovers Over the Sun
- APOD: 2024 August 18 Á A Solar Prominence Eruption from SDO
- APOD: 2024 August 4 Á Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
- APOD: 2024 July 28 Á Sun Dance
- Prominences and Filaments on the Active Sun
- APOD: 2024 May 28 Á Solar X Flare as Famous Active Region Returns