Aurora lovers got a surprise mixed in with the green streaks of light dancing across the Alaskan sky: A bright baby blue galaxy-like spiral appeared amid the aurora within minutes. The cause early Saturday morning was little more mundane than an alien invasion or the appearance of a portal to the far reaches of the universe. It was simply excess fuel that was dropped from a SpaceX rocket launched from California about three hours before the spiral appeared. Video above: Videographer captures incredible time of aurora borealis over Alaska. Sometimes rockets have fuel that needs to be jettisoned, said space physicist Don Hampton, an associate research scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. “When they do that at high altitude, that fuel turns into ice,” he said. “And if it happens to be in the sunlight when you’re in the darkness of the ground, you can see it as a kind of big cloud, and sometimes it’s spinning.” Although not a common sight, Hampton said he’s seen such apparitions about three times . The appearance of the vortex was captured in time by the Geophysical Institute’s All-Sky Camera and widely shared. “It created a bit of an internet firestorm with this mascara,” Hampton said. Photographers participating in the Northern Lights show also posted their photos on social media. The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Friday evening with about 25 satellites as its payload. It was a polar launch, making it visible over much of Alaska. Fuel jettison time was correctly adjusted for visibility over Alaska. “And we have this really cool looking spiral thing,” he said. Although it looked like a galaxy passing over Alaska, he assured that it was not. “I can tell you it is not a galaxy,” he said. “It’s just water vapor reflecting sunlight.” Another spiral was seen in January, this time over the Big Island of Hawaii. A camera atop Mauna Kea, outside the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan’s Subaru Telescope, captured a spiral spinning across the night sky. Researchers said it was from the launch of a military GPS satellite that took off earlier on a SpaceX rocket over Florida.
Aurora lovers got a surprise mixed in with the green streaks of light dancing across the Alaskan sky: A bright baby blue galaxy-like spiral appeared amid the aurora within minutes.
The cause early Saturday morning was little more mundane than an alien invasion or the appearance of a portal to the far reaches of the universe. It was simply excess fuel that was released from a SpaceX rocket launched from California about three hours before the spiral appeared.
Video above: Videographer captures incredible time-lapse of aurora borealis over Alaska
Sometimes rockets have fuel that needs to be jettisoned, said space physicist Don Hampton, an associate research scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.
“When they do that at high altitude, that fuel turns into ice,” he said. “And if it happens to be in sunlight when you’re in the darkness of the earth, you can see it as a kind of big cloud, and sometimes it’s spinning.”
While it’s not a common sight, Hampton said he’s seen similar occurrences about three times.
The appearance of the vortex was captured in time by the Geophysical Institute’s All-Sky Camera and widely shared. “It created a bit of an internet firestorm with this mascara,” Hampton said.
Photographers participating in the Northern Lights show also posted their photos on social media.
The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday night with about 25 satellites as payload.
It was a polar launch, making it visible over much of Alaska.
Fuel dump timing was adjusted correctly for visibility over Alaska.
“And we got this really cool looking spiral thing,” he said.
Although it looked like a galaxy passing over Alaska, he assures that it is not.
“I can tell you it’s not a galaxy,” he said. “It’s just water vapor reflecting sunlight.”
In January, another spiral was spotted, this time over the Big Island of Hawaii. A camera atop Mauna Kea, outside the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan’s Subaru Telescope, captured a spiral spinning across the night sky.
Researchers said it was from the launch of a military GPS satellite that took off earlier on a SpaceX rocket in Florida.