Video of the fuel ejection from the second stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which caused the blue spiral phenomenon yesterday.
can someone explain what I'm seeing here? I'm too dumb for this.
The spiral was created after the rocket's first-stage booster, which blasted it off the ground, separated and the upper stage took over, he said.
As the booster fell back to Earth, it vented leftover fuel, which froze into reflective crystals.
"These crystals caught the sunlight, creating the bright spiral pattern in the sky," O'Donoghue said.
"The spiral shape happened because the tumbling rocket was spinning as it released the fuel."
Source:
https//wwwrfi.fr/en/international-news/20250325-spacex-rocket-fuel-makes-stunning-swirl-in-european-sky
The spiral was created after the rocket's first-stage booster, which blasted it off the ground, separated and the upper stage took over, he said. As the booster fell back to Earth, it vented leftover fuel, which froze into reflective crystals.
That's only partially correct. The booster never would have come anywhere near Europe. The venting which created the spiral would have been from passivating the upper stage after the payload was deployed.
aha. thanks.