A couple of weeks ago I was thinking about going out to take a picture of a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Not all the way out to Vandenberg, but maybe to Palos Verdes where I could get a clear view. But then the launch was delayed, and I never did it.
On Saturday I drove out to the desert for a bit of stargazing, and as usual I stopped off at Chiriaco Summit for provisions. When I came out, there was a rocket in the sky, so I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. I was lucky to get them, but if I been out one minute earlier I would have gotten a really great sunset shot of the launch.
In any case, it was a Falcon 9 delivering Starlink satellites to orbit. Here are three pictures. The first is a closeup of the rocket itself. The second is the rocket trail. The third is the rocket trail about half an hour later. The star at the top is Jupiter.
These are simply great.
Oh, nice! The first photo catches the fairings, which are dropped in the thinnest part of the atmosphere to tumble back down, but we rarely get to see them interacting with the rocket's wake.