Rocket Launch Dazzles Kitt Peak Visitors

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lights up the sky as seen in this image taken last summer from the U.S. National Science Foundation Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab, near Tucson, Arizona. Although the rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base about 890 kilometers (550 miles) away in California, the recently set Sun lit up the rocket’s exhaust plume for miles as the plume dramatically expanded in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Another view of this image was featured as an Image of the Week. Rob Sparks, the photographer, is a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.