Striking new photos show a perfect dashed line of light left behind by a dying SpaceX rocket in the night sky above Arizona. The luminous streak, which is the result of some clever photo trickery, is the latest reminder of the company's rapidly increasing launch schedule.
After deploying their payloads, the rockets' second stages — the main part of the rocket that separates from the rocket's reusable boosters — underwent controlled deorbit burns, which caused them to fall toward Earth and burn up in the planet's upper atmosphere. In the new images, Perez combined multiple long-exposure shots of the ignited second stage as it passed overhead. The breaks in the luminous streak represent points where the camera's shutter was closed. In real-time the event appeared very differently:"It looked like a delicate, cometary dandelion poof drifting overhead," Perez told Spaceweather.com. The light also appeared white in real-time instead of the bright blues seen in the photos, he added.
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.In zoomed-in versions of the photos, you can also see a second dimmer line alongside the falling space junk. This streak is made up of light from the satellites deployed by the rocket, which were drifting alongside it before it started its final maneuver.
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