Space X Launch UFO Sightings

[Trevor.Dennis]

Did any of you West Coast people see the strange lights off California caused by the Space X launch?

There are some very cool pictures and video out there, and I'd have love to have witnessed it.

This one is crying out for some image stabilization.

[Chuck Uebele]

Yea, I was waiting to shoot it. I mentioned it to Russell Brown, as he wanted to see a launch. He came down also, but was closer that I was. I shot this image near my home in Shell Beach (about 28 miles to Vandenberg). I was looking south, which was the direction the rocket went, so I didn't see the profile that you posted, Trevor. Since the launch was shortly after sunset, I couldn't do my normal long exposure, as the ambient light was too bright. So I took a series of images and pieced together the one below.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Amazing picture Chuck, and I wonder what Russell managed to get?  Perhaps he put one of his drones up for a high view point.

Ahhhh...  I think you might have been the first person to like his launch pictures on Instagram

Chuck, why are we seeing the heavy rocket trail, and a much less intense trail in the pictures?

[Chuck Uebele]

I'm not 100% sure, but that other trail is part of the rocket reentering. But I'm not sure why it shows up in Russell's, as it appeared much later during the launch on one of my frames.

[John T Smith]

Close up picture of the launch

[Nancy OShea]

Chuck is closer to the launch site.   I'm further south.  What we saw down here was more like the first photo.