Gas, Gas, Gas: Striking Sky Plumes Captured After SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch

Photo of the Week

With apologies to the Rolling Stones, FLORIDA TODAY photographer Craig Bailey delivered a Photo of the Week that is literally a "gas, gas, gas." Taken after the Nov. 2 SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the image shows dramatic, curving plumes created when rocket gases interact with the atmosphere.

Liftoff after liftoff, there is always something new and wonderful along Florida's Space Coast, but capturing a single striking image remains a challenge for launch photographers. Bailey, who has photographed launches for decades (including many just this year), recorded an effect that is not always visible and can be fleeting when it does appear.

What you are seeing

The patterns in the sky result from gases released when the Falcon 9 booster separates from the second stage. If atmospheric conditions are right—thin high-altitude air, sunlight at the proper angle and minimal wind—the expanding exhaust forms bright, curving plumes and ribbons that can create surreal, almost artistic shapes.

That’s just a frame from what happens sometimes if the atmospheric conditions are correct, when the booster separates from the second stage of a Falcon 9, Bailey said. It’s generally very pretty, but not always visible.

In this case, timing and conditions aligned to produce a vivid, easily readable image that eclipses the fuzzy cellphone photos many of us take. The photograph was selected as Florida Today’s Photo of the Week for its striking composition and unusual atmospheric effect.

Location: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Event: SpaceX Falcon 9 launch, Nov. 2. Photographer: Craig Bailey, FLORIDA TODAY.