SpaceX Falcon 9 -- October 27, 2022
The rocket's booster stage reportedly landed on a ship nine minutes after the reported 6:14 PM launch from Vandenberg AFB.
After adjusting for errors in my camera's clock, I find this image was taken at 6:17 PM corrected local time in California, which coincides with the beginning of the 1st stage's controlled descent three minutes after launch, so perhaps that's what I captured here, although I can't explain why there appear to be 3 objects that have separated from the 2nd stage.
When it first came into view here, the rocket was west of Los Angeles, about 100 miles downrange from Vandenberg and seemingly flying in a SSE direction.
www.space.com/spacex-starlink-group-4-31-launch
I'd heard the launch announcement on the news, so I quickly walked outside with my camera loaded for bear, or spaceships. The crescent moon dominated the twilight sky, and I got a couple good shots before the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket appeared as a bright streak in the WNW sky, not looking immediately different from an approaching jet, but the vapor trail soon grew in size, and I realized I was seeing the spaceship, which then flew across the western sky toward the S over the next couple of minutes before it was lost behind some trees.
The big Sigma 100-400 zoom proved up to the challenge, reliably focusing on the rocket's hot exhaust, which for focus if not composition I kept centered, and so this image has been cropped.
SpaceX Falcon 9 -- October 27, 2022
The rocket's booster stage reportedly landed on a ship nine minutes after the reported 6:14 PM launch from Vandenberg AFB.
After adjusting for errors in my camera's clock, I find this image was taken at 6:17 PM corrected local time in California, which coincides with the beginning of the 1st stage's controlled descent three minutes after launch, so perhaps that's what I captured here, although I can't explain why there appear to be 3 objects that have separated from the 2nd stage.
When it first came into view here, the rocket was west of Los Angeles, about 100 miles downrange from Vandenberg and seemingly flying in a SSE direction.
www.space.com/spacex-starlink-group-4-31-launch
I'd heard the launch announcement on the news, so I quickly walked outside with my camera loaded for bear, or spaceships. The crescent moon dominated the twilight sky, and I got a couple good shots before the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket appeared as a bright streak in the WNW sky, not looking immediately different from an approaching jet, but the vapor trail soon grew in size, and I realized I was seeing the spaceship, which then flew across the western sky toward the S over the next couple of minutes before it was lost behind some trees.
The big Sigma 100-400 zoom proved up to the challenge, reliably focusing on the rocket's hot exhaust, which for focus if not composition I kept centered, and so this image has been cropped.