One of my "nebula" photos from the March 3 crewed rocket launch was selected as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day ("APOD") for today, March 7. This honor humbles me, as several people captured excellent images of this launch, including some of this nebula, a spectacle caused by "plumes and exhaust" after the second stage (carrying the crew of 4) separated from the Falcon 9 first-stage rocket booster. And however cool it might look in a still image, it doesn't do the scene justice. It is truly one of the coolest things to watch. I found this particular image the morning after the launch; when I was first processing the images immediately after the launch, I skipped over it. At first, I favored a couple of pictures from five seconds after this one, where the nebula was almost twice as large. But you couldn't make out the booster in those other frames, whereas here, you can see it. The caption written by the APOD team, Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP), is great, and you can read it here:https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.htmlorhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240307.html
At 10:53pm EST Sunday, SpaceX sent the Crew-8 mission to space atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew of 4 are headed to the International Space Station. It was a beautiful night to go to space, and the “nebula” at stage separation was incredible!
At 10:53pm EST Sunday, SpaceX sent the Crew-8 mission to space atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew of 4 are headed to the International Space Station. It was a beautiful night to go to space, and the “nebula” at stage separation was incredible!
At 10:53pm EST Sunday, SpaceX sent the Crew-8 mission to space atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew of 4 are headed to the International Space Station. It was a beautiful night to go to space, and the “nebula” at stage separation was incredible!
At 10:53pm EST Sunday, SpaceX sent the Crew-8 mission to space atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew of 4 are headed to the International Space Station. It was a beautiful night to go to space, and the “nebula” at stage separation was incredible!
At 10:53pm EST Sunday, SpaceX sent the Crew-8 mission to space atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew of 4 are headed to the International Space Station. It was a beautiful night to go to space, and the “nebula” at stage separation was incredible!
At 10:53pm EST Sunday, SpaceX sent the Crew-8 mission to space atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew of 4 are headed to the International Space Station. It was a beautiful night to go to space, and the “nebula” at stage separation was incredible!
At 10:53pm EST Sunday, SpaceX sent the Crew-8 mission to space atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew of 4 are headed to the International Space Station. It was a beautiful night to go to space, and the “nebula” at stage separation was incredible!
At 10:53pm EST Sunday, SpaceX sent the Crew-8 mission to space atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew of 4 are headed to the International Space Station. It was a beautiful night to go to space, and the “nebula” at stage separation was incredible!