Category Archives: Space

November 16, 2025 · 23:17

I Thought I Had Missed It

SpaceX was launching out of Vandenberg tonight, but with all of the rain (about 2″ over the last two days) and clouds (pretty solid overcast for five days) I didn’t expect to see much. But, eternal optimist and all of that, out I went at the appointed time.

COLD! WINDY! According to a WeatherUnderground station in the neighborhood, it was 45ºF, winds at 17 mph gusting to 22, so not exactly “sweater weather.” But I guess some days it’s better to be lucky than good.

The first stage (that little orange flame over the neighbor’s tree) was visible for about two seconds max. Then it disappeared into all of those clouds up above.

Given the weather up and down the SoCal coastal regions, I guess the bigger surprise is that they were launching at all!

Leave a comment

Filed under Photography, Space, Weather

August 13, 2025 · 23:56

Can We See SpaceX Launches From The High Desert?

This was not quite a deal breaker when figuring out where to find our Forever Home, but it was definitely an important question to me. And I had gone looking for videos and pictures prior to moving here, so I was pretty sure I knew the answer.

Yep! Coincidentally, we happen to have a clear view between the two houses across the street all the way to the western horizon, so less than a minute after launch there was a red dot climbing up which quickly started growing a tail of fire.

Over the next minute or two it was easy to see the tail get longer and start to change color, then it all suddenly blinked out at Main Engine Cut Off (MECO).

I figured that was it, but after the second stage lit up I could see it with my eyes for another couple of minutes, headed southbound and up.

Tonight’s launch was originally supposed to be a twilight launch, with the exhaust plume all lit up by the setting Sun from way over the horizon, and possibly a huge “jellyfish effect” as the exhaust expanded and blew around in the high altitude winds. Then the launch got bumped almost two hours, and we didn’t see any of that in the dark night sky.

Maybe next time.

It most certainly looks smaller from here – we’re almost three times as far away from Vandenberg as we were in West Hills. But this is not a strictly local phenomenon, so let’s bring on the next night launch!

By then I’ll have found the tripods and rescued them from the PODS unit and I’ll be looking for better photos and maybe some video. Stand by.

Leave a comment

Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Space

July 18, 2025 · 23:31

Forever Home – July 18th

We signed loan documents today. I sent wire transfers for more than $80,000. It doesn’t get much more real than that.

We should fund on Monday, and close escrow on Tuesday morning. After five years of living on Zillow for hour after hour and looking at house after house, it’s a bit unreal to actually be at this point.

We still have to get everything packed and ready to bug out on Wednesday and Thursday next week. It will be an exhausting weekend.

Another “last” tonight, as SpaceX had an almost perfect launch out of Vandenberg after sunset.

A couple of minutes before the launch, the light fading, a bit of color in the clouds. (That white, comet-like thing above the wire isn’t the rocket, it’s a lens flare from the neighbor’s security lighting.)

The launch was fantastic, complete with four or five teenagers pulling up mid launch with one girl screaming about “that thing in the sky,” some dude telling her it was the Moon (it was not the Moon), and some olde phart (me) yelling across the street to tell them what it really was.

Leave a comment

Filed under Forever Home, Photography, Space, Sunsets, Video

June 16, 2025 · 22:46

Spectacular Sunset Launch

There was a SpaceX Falcon9 launch (with Starlink satellites) at 20:36, with sunset having occurred at 20:09. It was clear and I expected a spectacular sight – I was not disappointed.

Click on them – enjoy the full-sized files!

The rocket rose just to the right of the mountain, seen through those trees and headed toward orbit. The white exhaust plume is from the first stage, which cut off (MECO = Main Engine Cut Off) just behind that far left tree. You can see the rocket coasting and the second stage firing just above and to the left of that point.

The second stage, along with the Starlink payload, is headed to space and well above most of the atmosphere at this point, so the exhaust expands out in a cone behind it. The bright dot just behind and below it is the first stage, falling back toward the drone barge waiting for it off of Baja.

Behind it, the plume was being pushed around by high altitude winds and still brightly lit by the Sun, even though it was well after sunset here on the ground. A launch like this always leads to a ton of calls to 9-1-1.

Finally, as even the eastern-most parts of the plume fell into darkness, the western-most parts were still lit up but were starting to turn orange with the sunset.

I think I got a pretty decent view of the launch on video. It’s long, about 15 minutes, since I let it run, hoping to hear the sonic boom about 12-13 minutes after launch. (Spoiler: I didn’t hear the sonic boom, but the front yard sprinklers did turn on and I had to run for it to stay dry. You can stop watching the video after about the 8:45 mark, unless you want to see me scramble.)

Falcon9 shows up over the hill at about 3:43. MECO and stage separation happens at 4:29. At 5:35, in the plume behind the second stage, you can see three dots. That’s the 1st stage, and the two fairing halves, all falling back to be recovered and re-used on a future flight.

Another thing to look for is the reentry burn of the first stage. It can be seen starting up just to the left of the street light pole from 8:11 to 8:34, the first time I’ve ever seen it from here, over a hundred miles away. In this burn, the first stage slows down as it starts to hit the top of the atmosphere, reducing the heat and structural stress on reentry as transitions from falling to flying down onto the drone ship. Spectacular!

I’ve seen videos taken from the High Desert, Hesperia, Victorville, and Apple Valley, where folks there can still see these launches, even another hundred miles to the east. It will be interesting to watch for from that new viewpoint when we find the Forever Home.

Leave a comment

Filed under Photography, Space, Sunsets, Video

May 24, 2025 · 23:51

Dragon Reentry

SpaceX Dragon spacecraft have started splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off of San Diego. Tonight there was a Cargo Dragon coming back from the International Space Station and its track brought it in from the northwest to the southeast, following the California coast and coming right over Los Angeles at about 10″35 PM.

I was thinking of shooting a Facebook Live video, but the Dragon came over Castle Peak a minute or two earlier than I had expected and it was going a LOT faster than I expected. I’m used to seeing ISS going over and it can take close to ten minutes to go from horizon to horizon if it’s going straight overhead. Dragon took 1:29. It was slower after breaking using atmospheric drag, but it was also MUCH lower.

Dragon had a long, colorful tail, not unlike a SpaceX Falcon launch, but missing the exhaust trail that a launch will leave.

These first three pictures were taken about 4-5 seconds apart – that spacecraft was making tracks!

Once it got down toward the southern horizon, somewhere south of Long Beach and near Oceanside, the trail faded as the spacecraft slowed further and the parachutes came out.

But the show wasn’t over. The other thing that was expected since we were nearly right under the path was a sonic boom. As it went over the Dragon was doing WELL over Mach 1, and about 2:34 after the Dragon faded from view, a LOUD Boom-Boom, double sonic boom rattled the windows. Outside it was quite noticable – it was heard even inside the house, as The Long Suffering Wife came out to make sure that I hadn’t tripped and fallen and slammed into the door or wall. No tripping, no crashing, just spacecraft returning to Earth.

1 Comment

Filed under Photography, Space

May 13, 2025 · 23:50

Moon Cloud

Bright moon, full-ish. Might be tonight, might have been last night. Whatever, close enough for government work.

Odd trail of cloud covering it.

The clouds and the moon are 250,000 miles apart, I think it’s just a coincidental alignment. I like to keep an eye open for such things. And then share them.

Leave a comment

Filed under Astronomy, Photography, Space, Weather

May 9, 2025 · 23:41

No Kosmos-482 Here

We’re about an hour into the ±4 hour window for the uncontrolled re-entry of the Russian Venus probe Kosmos-482. No doubt you’ve heard all of the frenzied hype about it – if you’ve been reading this site any time in the last 12+ years, you know my opinion of the mainstream media, their handling of science and fact, and the hysterical hype that they love to shovel over something inconsequential.

The final couple of orbits are over water the vast majority of the time:

Image: SatTrackCam.blogspot.com

and nowhere near the US. Excellent odds that it’s going to splash in the next hour or two.

But if we’re invoking chaos and gremlins and playful demigods such as Puck or Loki, hanging on just a little bit to make to take into that last orbit and then sailing a bit northwest puts it coming down near the Virginia and Maryland areas where there’s this huge White House occupied by an orange troll…

The gods could do the funniest thing!

Yeah, I know that orbital mechanics doesn’t work that way, and I’m a firm believer in science, engineering, reality, and so on. That’s why they would call it an “act of God,” am I right?

Leave a comment

Filed under Politics, Silly Shit, Space

March 11, 2025 · 23:26

SpaceX Launch From Vandenberg – March 11th

A SpaceX Falcon9 rocket finally got off the ground tonight out of Vandenberg after several delays and scrubs. We were hoping for one of those fantastic, just-after-sunset “jellyfish” displays where it’s dark where you are but the rocket plume high above the ground is still brightly it.

What I would really like would be an old-style video camera where I can put my eye on a viewfinder and see what I’m filming. The other option these days, which sounds really neat but I have no idea how to do it, is to get a camera with an ouput and hook it up to a VR headset. Something to play with, maybe, some day.

Enjoy the launch!

Leave a comment

Filed under Space, Video

February 10, 2025 · 23:38

Sunset Launch

Just about perfect “just after sunset” timing for a SpaceX launch out of Vandenberg. I missed it, but my daughter caught it from near Downtown LA.

(Photo: Michi Willett)

I ran outside.

The rocket was long gone over the southern horizon, but the high altitude contrail, still lit up by the sun somewhere over the horizon to the west, was still glowing.

The other view I’ve seen is from the Virtual Railfan Hesperia/Cajon Pass webcam. If you can see a copy later, grab it. It’s great to see that when we move up to the High Desert we’ll still be able to see launches.

It lasted for a while, until the Sun moved on and the contrail dissipated.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Airshows, Critters, Photography, Space, Sunsets

January 31, 2025 · 22:20

The Stars Align

That’s a classic line for a title, but a highly inaccurate one. While there are stars in view, the bright objects are not stars, but planets and our Moon.

When I first went out it reminded me of several symbolic scenes from “2001: A Space Odyssey.” (If there’s a giant 4x9x16 black alien obelisk floating out there to do something amazing and save the human race from our own incredible stupidity, NOW would be a good time! Just saying…)

The super bright object in the middle (and the upside down internal reflection from the iPhone camera above and to the left) is obviously the Moon. It’s a three-day old, 9% illuminated crescent that’s just stunningly gorgeous hanging there (see that upside down, reflected image) but still far brighter than anything else in the sky outside of the Sun.

The next brightest object, center top, is Venus, the third brightest object in the sky. It will be there for another couple of months in the evening sky. Tomorrow night the Moon and Venus will be even closer, if not lined up like a movie special effects shot. (Look for it yourself just after sunset!) We’ll see if we can see it here in LA, the weather’s supposed to be getting cloudy.

(Image: Star Walk app for iPhone)

I was curious if the bright object just above and to the left of the Moon was another internal reflection or not, but it’s apparently Saturn. I knew that it was out there, but in the twilight and slight haze (which also is making that halo around the Moon) I couldn’t see it with the naked eye. But no, that’s got to be Saturn that the camera’s picking up with a long exposure.

Not seen, but also there, is Neptune, just to the left of Venus. I might be able to pick it out as a pinpoint with my 8″ telescope (Venus and Saturn will show visible disks, Saturn’s rings would be clearly visible) and it might show some blue color, but the iPhone doesn’t have a chance.

Taking even longer exposures (this is 20 seconds, the longest my iPhone 13 will do) under the landing approach to Burbank Airport can lead to other visual visitors becoming prominent. That’s a private Cessna 550 Citation coming into Burbank at 3,725 feet and 127 knots.

And one other thing I notice in looking at these images on the big computer monitors instead of on the iPhone – take a look (full-sized images) at the Sky Walk image. Immediately to the left of the symbol for Neptune, there’s a quadralateral of four dimmer stars. You can see where Neptune is centered about midway between Venus and that quadralateral of stars. Now look at the full-sized image above, and there’s that quadralateral off to the left of Venus.

Can you see Neptune in there? Was I wrong above about the iPhone being able to pull it in? There are two very, very dim objects, one closer to the quadralateral and just above the wires, the other higher and closer to Venus. Could one of those be Neptune?

Zooming in as far as the Sky Walk app will take me, it might be the lower one, near the wire.

Intriguing…

Leave a comment

Filed under Airshows, Astronomy, Critters, Photography, Space