It’s one of those “You don’t see that every day” moments, captured by FLORIDA TODAY photographer Craig Bailey in this Photo of the Week.
And there’s a lesson to go along with it.
The shot, from a rare daylight Starlink launch, shows a vapor cone forming around a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket after it lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
How and why that vapor cone happens is likely a mystery to many.
Not for Bailey, who’s compiled a motherlode of launch shots and can explain what’s behind the formation.
“As the rocket approaches the speed of sound, when the atmospheric conditions are right, a vapor cone will appear around the rocket.,” Bailey said.
“This one is unusual because the low angle of the morning sun creates a shadow of the rocket on the vapor cone. But like the vapor cone, the shadow is only there for a brief moment and then is gone.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Vapor cone plays ring around the Falcon 9 rocket | Photo of the Week
Reporting by Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
