That Glowing Jellyfish Over Sarasota Was a SpaceX Rocket

If you let the dog out early Tuesday and saw a giant glowing jellyfish drifting over the trees, good news: you're not losing it, and it wasn't aliens. It was a rocket on its way to the International Space Station, and a lot of you got a front-row seat from roughly 160 miles away.

What actually launched

According to SpaceX's mission page, a Falcon 9 lifted off at 6:33 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Oct. 13, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission was CRS-35, Dragon's 35th cargo run for NASA. Spaceflight Now reports it's carrying more than 6,300 pounds of science and supplies, including new roll-out solar arrays for the station.

Two more fun facts from SpaceX: the booster (B1096) was on its eighth flight, and it flew back and landed at Landing Zone 40 next to the pad, about seven and a half minutes after liftoff. Dragon is due to dock on Thursday, Oct. 15, around 11 a.m. ET. That's a long commute, but at least there's no I-75.

Why it looked like a jellyfish

Here's the trick. At 6:33 a.m. it was still dark on the ground here; sunrise in Sarasota wasn't until almost an hour later. But a rocket climbs fast. Within a few minutes it's high enough that the sun, still below our horizon, is shining on it.

So the expanding exhaust plume up there gets lit like a lampshade against a dark sky. The plume spreads out as the air thins, and the bright streaks of the stages trail underneath like tentacles. NASA's Kennedy Space Center has a name for it that everybody adopted: the "space jellyfish." It only happens on launches right around dawn or dusk, which is why most launches just look like a bright dot from the Gulf Coast and this one looked like an aquarium exhibit.

What our neighbors caught

Plenty of you were already up and pointing phones at the sky. A few favorites:

Josh kept it short and sweet, and honestly, so did the jellyfish. Proof it was visible right here in Manatee County.

Erik Kuna shot it from Tampa, 140 miles from the pad, and his caption explains the whole thing better than most textbooks: the rocket is already up in sunlight while the ground is still dark. Beautiful shot.

Scott Loveless said this was "not a bad reason to dust off this account," and we agree. Welcome back, Scott. More of this, please.

When to look up next

The next one has the same recipe. The current schedule shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 Bandwagon-5 rideshare launch from the same pad, SLC-40, on Monday, Oct. 19, with a window opening at 6:30 a.m. ET, about the same predawn timing as Tuesday. No promises on jellyfish (weather, timing and trajectory all have to cooperate, and launch dates move all the time), but it's worth setting an alarm.

How to give yourself the best shot from here:

• Look east-northeast, low over the horizon, a minute or two after liftoff. It takes a moment to climb into view over the trees.
• Get a clear eastern view. The bayfront, an open parking lot or a top-floor garage beats a backyard full of oaks. (The beach faces the wrong way for this one; save it for the sunset.)
• Check the time that morning on SpaceX's launches page, since windows shift and scrubs happen.
• Bring coffee. Not technically required. Strongly recommended.

Thanks to everyone who shared their shots. It's not every Tuesday the sky does something this cool before 7 a.m.

— Sandy