Discovery Trail & Cloud by TwoPynts

ShareShot • Space • posted on Mar 16, 2009

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Description

Many of you in Florida were treated to quite a sight as the space shuttle lauched at sunset. The low angle of the sun transformed the smoke trail into a rainbow hued pillar. This was taken from 150 miles (240km) away from the launch site. A little while after the launch after the trail had started to dissappate, the luminescent cloud formed in the upper atmosphere. It was quite a site. I'm pretty sure it was caused by the shuttle as it passed through that layer of the atmosphere, but if we have any science-types that know exactly what it is, please speak up! Thanks.

Comments (22)

PD154

4:38PM | Mon, 16 March 2009

I'm no scientist, but would this be a result of liquid oxygen entering the atmo?...fair enough guess?...so yeah could be Kort, either way up, it's a beautiful shot, and I like the closer view downstairs :)

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popeslattz

4:39PM | Mon, 16 March 2009

Very cool shot. Thanks for the close-up. Must've been great to witness. I'm no "science-type", but I'm pretty sure that's an alien ship entering the atmosphere through the hole that the shuttle punched through. ?

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armoric56

4:42PM | Mon, 16 March 2009

very strange effects!sure it's not heaven gate?;)

shipmanjonathan

4:42PM | Mon, 16 March 2009

Awesomeness! Love it!

MC-Jay-One

4:46PM | Mon, 16 March 2009

Excellent shot, well seen !!

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timtripp

5:21PM | Mon, 16 March 2009

cool!

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bronwyn_lea

7:11PM | Mon, 16 March 2009

Thank you so much for sharing. I get so excited with each launch and wish that I was able to see it take-off in real life. It was a beautiful launch at sunset.

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jif3d

8:37PM | Mon, 16 March 2009

Interesting phenomena, being in the right place at the right time ! ~Cheers~

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drace68

9:22PM | Mon, 16 March 2009

You know, it looks like a sci-fi "wormhole." Good captures.

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kbatty

8:47AM | Tue, 17 March 2009

Whatever it is, it is awesome to see!

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Art_Ramos

8:48AM | Tue, 17 March 2009

Excellent capture!

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odie

12:59PM | Tue, 17 March 2009

A great opportunity for you locals to catch this sight! Nice job.

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sharky_

1:24PM | Tue, 17 March 2009

What a treat to see something like this. Aloha

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Burpee

1:09PM | Wed, 18 March 2009

Fantastic capture! Wow, this is amazing.

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eyeland

11:26PM | Thu, 19 March 2009

Great shot, Kort. Has a mysterious quality to it, like something out of the X Files. I was lucky enough to see a shuttle launch (sometime in the early 90's I think it was) while at a conference in Orlando. A friend & I decided it was more important than attending conference sessions, so we played hooky - got up at the crack of dawn, drove down to Kennedy Space Center & watched it. Awesome experience, but we didn't see anything as unusual as this...

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