Dr. John Barentine FRAS on Nostr: What's That Huge Red Blob In The Night Sky? This image was made by Bill Dunford (NASA ...
What's That Huge Red Blob In The Night Sky?
This image was made by Bill Dunford (NASA JPL) at McDonald Observatory last Friday night. The red blob appears to be an induced aurora from a rocket launch, likely the 2nd stage burn of the #Falcon9 #Starlink 6-16 launch out of Canaveral at 0338 UTC on the 16th. Coincidentally, the 2.7m telescope, equipped with an IFU spectrograph, was looking in the direction of this spot as it passed overhead. It's not known yet whether the light affected the data.
This image was made by Bill Dunford (NASA JPL) at McDonald Observatory last Friday night. The red blob appears to be an induced aurora from a rocket launch, likely the 2nd stage burn of the #Falcon9 #Starlink 6-16 launch out of Canaveral at 0338 UTC on the 16th. Coincidentally, the 2.7m telescope, equipped with an IFU spectrograph, was looking in the direction of this spot as it passed overhead. It's not known yet whether the light affected the data.