{"id":629,"date":"2017-12-25T04:58:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-25T04:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2017\/12\/25\/spacex_falcon_9\/"},"modified":"2023-12-24T06:21:50","modified_gmt":"2023-12-24T06:21:50","slug":"spacex_falcon_9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2017\/12\/25\/spacex_falcon_9\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX Falcon 9 Twilight Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A couple nights ago, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a group of Iridium satellites and put on an awesome twilight show across the southwest US. Twilight rocket launches are incredible. If you get a chance to see one, just stop what you\u2019re doing, step outside for a few minutes and take it in. Of course, that\u2019s kind of tough to do if you don\u2019t know it\u2019s coming\u2014more on that in a bit.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/248630010\" width=\"520\" height=\"293\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Friday night\u2019s launch had a very precise launch window and was set to go off at 6:27:23 PM Arizona time. Because Vandenberg Air Force Base is over 500 miles away, the rocket never gets more than a few degrees above the horizon as it travels downrange. So a low horizon is important if you want to see as much as possible. At first, I wanted to view and shoot it from Robinson Crater north of town so I could get the San Francisco Peaks in the shot. But I got concerned that the Peaks were just too close to that location and their height would block too much of the exhaust plume. So I switched to the summit of Mount Elden instead. By hiking beyond a summit gate, I could get enough elevation to put the west summit below the horizon and have a completely unhindered view.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-Launchphotoplan.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-Launchphotoplan.png\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\"><b>Some notes I drafted about elevations, times and camera settings before heading out<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Flagstaff had gotten some snow a couple nights before, and I was worried the road to the summit might be in bad shape. As I headed up the mountain, I counted off the minutes before the point of no return \u2014 where I\u2019d have to commit the rest of the way, or else turn around if I wanted enough time to get to my backup spot at Buffalo Park. It was all good though. The road only served up some light snow in a few spots, and I got to my parking spot with 40 minutes to spare.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8373-2_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8373-2_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\"><b>Sunset behind the west summit towers<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The temperature was just a few degrees below freezing, so not too bad, but the wind was blowing and I had to layer up like an onion. I grabbed the tripods and way-to-heavy camera bag and hiked a couple hundred more yards up the road beyond a closed gate to get the vantage I was after. I figured Vandenberg AFB would be roughly behind Bill Williams Mountain, so I framed for that to be toward the right side of my time lapses. But I wasn\u2019t 100% sure, so I fudged things to the right a bit more to be safe.<\/p>\n<p>After getting the tripods balanced on the slope with two DSLRs and one camcorder dialed in, I started testing exposures. It turned out that twilight was brighter than I expected so I could keep exposures to just 2 seconds on both cameras\/lenses\u2014which was good, since it would keep the fast moving rocket a bit sharper. Turns out the exhaust plume was so bright, I could have knocked that down by a third or half! But when you\u2019re shooting a time lapse, you don\u2019t get a chance to verify or change things partway through without ruining it.<\/p>\n<p>At 6:25, I started the time lapse intervalometers and got the video camera running. Learning from my 2016 Grady, Arkansas tornado video snafu, I made sure the red icon was really really red, and definitely not green.<\/p>\n<p>A couple minutes after the scheduled launch, the cirrus deck to the west got a bright spot\u2014directly over Bill Williams Mountain\u2014and the show was on! a few seconds after cresting the clouds, the pillar of exhaust dimmed, and after a few more seconds, brightened back up. That was the first stage shutting down and the second igniting. I tightened up zoom on the video camera and was rewarded with a beautifully turbulent view of the second stage plowing through the upper atmosphere as the bright knot of the first stage lagged further behind.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8484-2_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8484-2_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\"><b>First view of the launch<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222_VideoFrame1_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222_VideoFrame1_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\"><b>Tight zoom of turbulent exhaust plume<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>As it got above the denser air, the exhaust envelope became more laminar and the first stage started doing some interesting things. Bright arcs started pulsing out of it, putting on a little show within the show. My guess is that was caused by the reaction control system firing to orient the first stage and have it fall where they wanted it. From what I read, SpaceX was not planning on landing the stage after this use, so it probably just needed to splash down in the right spot.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222_VideoFrame2_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222_VideoFrame2_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222_VideoFrame3_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222_VideoFrame3_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222_VideoFrame4_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222_VideoFrame4_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\"><b>Tight zoom views of the exhaust envelope and first stage activity<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>As the rocket moved on to the south, it kept burning and lighting up the sky\u2014much longer than I was expecting. Eventually, it disappeared into the distance and the sky was left painted with an iridescent shell that drifted off to the southwest.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8495-2_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8495-2_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8527-2_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8527-2_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8461-Edit_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8461-Edit_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8487-Edit_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8487-Edit_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8596-2-Edit_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8596-2-Edit_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\"><b>Wide angle views of the expanding exhaust plume<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>After 20 minutes, it had dissipated and I took some more shots the north where air glow was lending an interesting reddish-purple hue to the sky over the Peaks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageblock\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8617-Edit_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20171222-IMG_8617-Edit_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\"><b>Moonlit view of the San Francisco Peaks to the north with my warm car waiting down below<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>So how do you find out if another twilight launch is coming up? First, twilight launches don\u2019t seem to be very frequent. A good place to start is to sign up for Brian Webb\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spacearchive.info\/newsletter.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Launch Alert Newsletter.<\/a> He posts info about upcoming Vandenberg (and sometimes White Sands) launches. If an upcoming launch happens a half hour to an hour after California sunset, it\u2019s time to pay close attention. Brian will usually call out the possibility in the launch details if it\u2019s at an ideal time. Most launches during the day and middle of the night are only visible close to Vandenberg.<\/p>\n<p>Having the sun about 14 degrees below my local horizon seems to be just about perfect for a dark sky against a brightly lit exhaust plume. I did accidentally happen to see an unscheduled Vandenberg missile test when the sun was 21 degrees below the horizon. The expanding dome of exhaust wasn\u2019t as bright as this one, but was still an excellent photo op.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve also caught a couple White Sands launches where the sun was just a few degrees below the horizon. While those launches were visible and fun to watch, the sky was too bright to get the full effect.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageblock\">\n<p class=\"caption\"><b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/000478.html\">Minotaur DARPAS Launch<\/a> \u2022 22 September 2005 \u2022 Sun at -14 degrees altitude<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/imgIMG_3894_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/imgIMG_3894_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"imageblock\">\n<p class=\"caption\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QUjyf3WYjA8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Juno Target Missile<\/a> \u2022 2 March 2011 \u2022 Sun at -3 degrees altitude<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20110302_JunoTestLaunch04_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20110302_JunoTestLaunch04_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"imageblock\">\n<p class=\"caption\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NnpVJKdvsa8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trident Missile Launch<\/a> \u2022 7 November 2015 \u2022 Sun at -21 degrees altitude<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20151107-IMG_2148-Edit Panorama-Edit_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20151107-IMG_2148-Edit Panorama-Edit_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"imageblock\">\n<p class=\"caption\"><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YpedldNbxA8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Juno Target Missile<\/a> \u2022 10 December 2015 \u2022 Sun at -5 degrees altitude<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20151210_VideoFrame1_1280px.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/archives\/images\/2017\/img20151210_VideoFrame1_640px.jpg\" width=\"520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>If we get another twilight launch soon, I think I\u2019ll dedicate a zoom lens on one of the DSLR\u2019s to a tight view instead of using the camcorder for that part. Noise was really high &amp; I had to do a lot of smoothing.<\/p>\n<p>Editing, rendering and quality control were tough on this one. I used a mix of frame blend and masked optical flow to smooth and slow the time lapse segments a bit. My processor does not like toying with optical flow renders and bogs down int the worst way\u2026and it doesn\u2019t help when you keep finding new glitches that need to be fixed and re-exported.<\/p>\n<p>If you live in the southwest and didn\u2019t get a chance to see this one, I hope the next one works out. I know I\u2019ll be keeping an eye out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple nights ago, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a group of Iridium satellites and put on an awesome twilight show across the southwest US. Twilight rocket launches are incredible. If you get a chance to see one, just stop what&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-satellite","category-astro-photography"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/img20171222-IMG_8461-Edit_1280px.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":513,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2009\/12\/10\/amazing_spiral\/","url_meta":{"origin":629,"position":0},"title":"Amazing Spiral Lights Over Norway &#8211; December 9, 2009","author":"jperez1690","date":"December 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Amazing Spiral Lights Over Norway - December 9, 2009","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Artificial Satellite&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Artificial Satellite","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/artificial-satellite\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":177,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2005\/09\/23\/minotaur_darpas\/","url_meta":{"origin":629,"position":1},"title":"Minotaur DARPAS Satellite Launch","author":"jperez1690","date":"September 23, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Minotaur DARPAS Satellite Launch","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":562,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2011\/03\/02\/juno_target_mis\/","url_meta":{"origin":629,"position":2},"title":"Juno Target Missile Launch &#8211; March 2, 2011","author":"jperez1690","date":"March 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Juno Target Missile Launch","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Artificial Satellite&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Artificial Satellite","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/artificial-satellite\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":477,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2009\/07\/01\/columbia_scient\/","url_meta":{"origin":629,"position":3},"title":"Columbia Scientific Balloon Assembly &#8211; JUN 11, 2009","author":"jperez1690","date":"July 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Columbia Scientific Balloon Assembly 20090611","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":633,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2020\/07\/07\/comet_c2020_f3_1\/","url_meta":{"origin":629,"position":4},"title":"Comet C\/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) &#8211; 7 July 2020","author":"jperez1690","date":"July 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"C\/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) - 7 July 2020, 3:44AM MST \/ 1044UT Click for larger version. There were no nearby clouds to contend with this morning and that permitted the view I was after with Merriam Crater. On any given day that old cinder cone is perfect\u2014then catching it sharing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comet&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comet","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/comet\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/img20200707-IMG_7374-Edit-Edit_1280px.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/img20200707-IMG_7374-Edit-Edit_1280px.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/img20200707-IMG_7374-Edit-Edit_1280px.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/img20200707-IMG_7374-Edit-Edit_1280px.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/img20200707-IMG_7374-Edit-Edit_1280px.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":332,"url":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/2007\/06\/12\/crux\/","url_meta":{"origin":629,"position":5},"title":"Crux","author":"jperez1690","date":"June 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Crux","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Constellation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Constellation","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/category\/constellation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":962,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions\/962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/beltofvenus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}