If you’re anyone that follows Space-X or NASA type news, I’m sure you saw that amazing sight that was the west coast launch of the Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket. The reason why this one was of particular interest is because it was a twilight launch. Now when that happens, at least on the west coast, when the rocket reaches a certain altitude, we get ana amazing show of light through the smoke plume generated by the first and second stages of the rocket.
This actually happened last Christmas, but I was in Phoenix at the time on a family vacation and missed it. They actually said that you could see it from Phoenix, but by the time I made it outside, I couldn’t see anything. Twitter and Instagram was light up by everyone capturing the event, even some people wondering if it was an alien invasion! It’s safe to say that I was feeling a particular case of FOMO from that launch.
So when I received a launch update mentioning that this was a twilight launch again, I was super pumped to try and see if I could get an image of it. And I was not disappointed. I did however, over do it a little bit with my ISO on the camera. I wanted to get the sharpest image possible so I pushed it all the way to 20,000! 😱 Yeah to say I had to add some noise reduction is an understatement. But I’m still very happy with what I was able to capture. Next time I think I’ll try to setup a proper time-lapse with a tripod, and some faster/sharper glass to help compensate.
Here is a replay of the Youtube Live Stream of the Launch, followed by a few of the stills I was able to get from my front lawn.
Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will return to land at SpaceX’s Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Air Force Base. This is SpaceX’s first attempt at a land landing on the West Coast. LZ-4 is built on the former site of Space Launch Complex 4W, from which Titan rockets were previously launched.
A7iii, Sigma MC-11 Adapter, Canon 24-105 f4, ISO 20,000
Once the rocket reached a certain altitude, the setting sun started to catch the plume.
Then it became absolutely amazing once the second stage operation occurred.
It was fascinating to see the first plume does this swirl motion as it was repositioning itself for the descent.
In this shot, you can see the first stage making its way back down to the landing pad. Unfortunately it was below the horizon where I was at, so I wasn't able to see the full descent.
We then watched as long as we could as the second stage continued on into orbit.
