NASA Black Brant XII / CARE Rocket Launch 9-19-2009

[cargirl401]

my husband and i saw this! lolol i could have sworn up and down it was a ufo! lolol thanks for clearing it up for me! i had no clue what it was!

[831Gromit]

Hi I would like to know what is happening very fast in the bottom of the video, from left to right ... thanks!

if you could write me email: gromit831@hotmail.com

[HalfCockedMD]

@831Gromit as has already been mentioned, it's a jet on approach to BWI airport.

[12urmomma]

i saw this in connecticut on my front porch..freaked me out till i saw the news the next day..

[sparktastic1]

Nice video.

I have an interest in low light CCD, so I can appreciate this video and it's contents.

[HalfCockedMD]

@sparktastic1 Thanks... I want to upgrade to a 1080 HD camcorder soon, any recommendations? Excellent low-light capability and the ability to record in extreme slow-motion (opposite ends of the spectrum, I know) are two extremely important considerations for me.

[TheGoodnessIsGood]

@HalfCockedMD Canon 1080's are best in low light as far as I've found, and they make cameras with a 1080P option, which is a true 1080P frame for frame recording, unlike the sonys and others that use an interlaced recording technique then "fit" them back together at 1080P. They don't have the tricky features of other brands ,but stick to the basics, good lens, quality sensors, etc, hence ,best in low light.

[phishbeat]

I saw this too. I was near Keane, New Hampshire. We had no idea what it was.

[AllisonCourtComedy]

yo i saw that **** too!!!

[UkiKid555z]

i saw this

[LeeSiRois]

whats the other thing flying across the bottom while this is happening?

[HalfCockedMD]

Jet, on approach to BWI.

[Bambooshoo2]

ok in the middle of the screen is what appears to be a star. through out this video the star is fixed at the middle of the screen..the "rocket" is on the lower right side of this star during the "3rd burn" stage going up and slightly to the left..when the "cloud dispersal" happens the light is on the left side of the star goin up and to the right ... how is this possible?! its not ....and may i ask what is the horizontal light that zips by the camera above the tree line?

[HalfCockedMD]

Bambooshoo2- every one of your questions has already been answered, please click "more info" in the description section, and earlier comments.

I have been watching Wallops launch sounding rockets for a long time, and already knew where to point the camcorder for the launch.

[Bambooshoo2]

thankyou for your reply but my main question hasnt been answerd the "rocket" is on the lower right side of this star during the "3rd burn" stage going up and slightly to the left..when the "cloud dispersal" happens the light is on the left side of the star goin up and to right.. with your camera in its fixed position and the amount of time it took for this hole thing to happen i dont doubt that the light on the right of the star is your rocket but on the left it is not...thanks for your time

[HalfCockedMD]

There was about 6-7 minutes between when the launch happened, and when the 4th stage burn (the 'cloud') took place. Between those times I moved the camcorder and pointed it toward the part of the sky where I expected the cloud to appear. This is obvious if you look at the relative positions of the house next door, between shots.

[HalfCockedMD]

The rocket's trajectory was out over the Atlantic, from right-to-left as seen from my location. After 3rd-stage burnout, it coasted up toward apogee, arcing over to the left (eastward), and started coming back down, tail first. That's when the 4th stage lit, creating the cloud.

[emjem1963]

V. cool, thanks for posting. We were wondering what that weird light was!

[utubin67]

with all the millions of testing Nasa does and our government does.. how come nothing, until this launch, ever appeared even similar to this effect? I mean, come on.. I'm 42 y/o and I watch the news, listen to the radio, go online.. how come this very interesting light shape and dimension never, ever happened before on any rocket launch or any other type of launch besides this one?

[HalfCockedMD]

I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time they've lit a solid rocket motor at 170+ miles altitude, where it was illuminated by sunlight but it was twilight on the ground. At least, over the east coast where millions of people were in visible range. So it's going to create a dramatic visual effect, because of all the particulate matter in the exhaust plume. The experiment was to create an artificial noctilucent cloud, so I would say it worked pretty well.

[utubin67]

I did hear on a local cable tv weather station that nasa was doing some kind of 'cloud' experiment.. I guess it would be nice if the real news (cnn, fox, ncb etc..) covered this b/c it wouldn't have scared so many people.. but then again, there's no money in alerting people of things.. so why bother, right.. I mean we live in a capitalist America so... no money, no honey..

[HalfCockedMD]

When I was a kid (70's) they used to launch a lot of barium cloud release experiments from Wallops, they were really cool to see (blue, and red colored clouds, if I remember correctly.) I wish they'd do more of these. ;-)

[whiteferio]

isn't barium released into the atmosphere bad if someone inhales it?

[HalfCockedMD]

I doubt it, barium compounds are used everywhere including fireworks, you would probably inhale a million times more barium at one 4th of July, than you inhale in your entire life from upper atmospheric experiments.

[Mexiscool]

i seen this on the sky over CT

[falzguy]

Very good video!

I saw it from Springwater, NY while camping. I wasn't sure what it was untill I saw your video.

[chris4918]

I saw it from snow hill nc

[Skyes9]

This is a common sight out in Southern California, especially during with the twilight conditions, they can make a launch trail visible for about 250+ miles .

[frankiebitches12]

i was in delaware me and my boys saw this we thought it was a ufo lol

[Karrie26]

This is a great video! Definately not what I filmed that night though. You did a good job filming that rocket. What is the red looking object that passes underneath it? Cool video :) *thumbs up*

[HalfCockedMD]

"What is the red looking object that passes underneath it?"

Passenger jet on approach to BWI.

[SteveCourville]

I saw this launch from Tiverton Rhode Island and my friend also witnessed it from Cranston Rhode Island.

I was very surprised...

[aero417]

Northern Virginia and I saw it clear as day

[iamacat532]

I was out on a Soccer Field and I saw this! I wasn't sure what it was, but this has to be it. I only saw the third cloud ploof, but it was still pretty cool..

However, the public probably should be better informed of this, they're may be some who claimed to have seen an alien... -.-

[crmdracing]

Where is this film footage of Nasa stating they were doing this? Why wasn't it on any news channels? Did hundreds of people missed that news broadcast?This was seen byTHE WORLD Looks to me you where filming Jupiter as there is a Jupiter show this month, just happened to catch the UFO. When Has Nasa said "Yes folks, there was an UFO last night".??? Go2 spacewebsites and c the space show that happen each month you will c Jupiter is put on a show this month. the plant in the middle of your film!

[HalfCockedMD]

crmdracing -

The launch was announced days in advance. It was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but was scrubbed because of the weather. When the skies cleared, it was given the go-ahead for a Saturday night launch.

I found out about the launch, via an email alert from someone in my rocketry club, and monitored the countdown via live TV webcast from the NASA Wallops website.

So don't blame NASA, if your local TV news prefers to run stories about Kanye West, or Oprah's weight problems.

[albermarle19]

Since when does NASA launch rockets from Virginia?

[HalfCockedMD]

Since way back... go to wikipedia, and look up "Wallops Flight Facility", it's even older than NASA itself.

I can remember as a kid, back in the 70's, watching barium cloud releases by sounding rockets launched from there - they were really cool, and always generated lots of "UFO" reports, just like this last experiment did.

[albermarle19]

Why is there no trail behind the rocket during launch,no visible flame/light trailing it ? Something doesn't sound/look correct,like the explanation of what it was or for that matter the eyewitness accounts all up/down the east coast.

[HalfCockedMD]

No visible flame/light trailing it? What do you think that was at the very beginning? It was 100 miles away. After the 3rd stage burned out it coasted to apogee, came back down a bit, then the 4th stage lit, which is what everyone saw.

[BrandyPA777]

my question is... how could this small Brandt rocket make such an enormous sized light in the sky visible as far as CT? When the space shuttles launch at FL, which are 4 times the size if not more, they are not visible for viewing in NC, or surrounding states. It doesnt make sense. Doesnt Nasa always claim to have done experiments after ppl report a ufo anyway?

[HalfCockedMD]

BrandyPA - NASA didn't tell people "after" this happened, they told people *before* it happened - that's why I had my camcorder and telescope set up...

Also, you're wrong about shuttle launches not being visible in NC. I can see them up here in Maryland, and people all along the east coast can see it, when it launches to the International Space Station.

Lastly, the cloud was huge, and visible for hundreds of miles, because that's what the experiment was *supposed* to do.

[xapie128]

Adding to HCMD's good post: Seeing the Shuttle is also dependent on sunlight. If it's launched in daylight, it is difficult to impossible from the mid-Atlantic. If it's midnight, you will only see it when the rocket is firing. This mission, on the other hand, was timed on purpose to have the sky dark on the ground but the sun still shining where the 4th stage firing occurred. The result was that the plume was lit by the sun in a dark sky. No sun, or too much and you wouldn't have seen a thing.

[gcimms535]

I just stepped out onto my deck to have a smoke when i looked up and saw this. Where i live is right on the approach path for Philadelphia's Airport, and its not uncommon to see planes lights breaking through the clouds like this. So, i thought nothing of it until i realized, a) it wasn't moving, and b) it was a cloudless night. After hearing what it was, i find it pretty cool i got to witness it, even if unknowingly

[jsdfgklshdkskh]

pshhh, idk but that shit was crazy, i live in the city of reading, and its been along time since anything like that appeared over the city, and we were about to catch a ride, and my friend looked up "What. the fuck. is. that.!" hahahaha it looked like a flash light pointing at earth. right away we were outta there quick. but now i feel like a dumbass hahahaha

[HicktownMotorsports]

Dude, I saw that after a 6er of Bud that that night and I ran in the house for my shotgun. I thought them green fuckers were back to put stuff in my butt again...

[HalfCockedMD]

HicktownMotorsports -

First, you should never mix alcohol and firearms.

Second, you need to pick new friends, if they're going to dress up as aliens and do weird things to you, every time you get drunk.

[nadirfend]

(Catonsville Maryland) - glanced at the sky, and saw this event occur in the sky. I stopped the car and watched it unfold. Wondered *WTF* was THAT??? - When I came to my senses, there I was, in the wrong lane of our neighborhood street, car radio music blaring, in front of a neighbors house. I chuckled later, feeling like I had been in a scene from 'Close Encounters'... Scruffy-looking guy, in old beat-up car, staring at the sky, while instrumental country music was playing on the radio.... : )

[carpcake]

My friend and I were riding quads in a very dark area near berlin nj. We stopped to take a break and saw this event from start to finish. I saw no cone shape or object. We saw a bright circular light become very bright. Soon a perfect beam of pure white light came down aways and seemed to point in our direction. The bright light began to fade and then a big white cloud formed around the light. The light was then gone and the cloud glowed for a minute or so before dissapating. Beam me up please..

[drfirebird64]

Myself ,along with 20 others saw this in Deep River CT. We are a Professional Fireworks Crew and were just about to start the show when we all saw the light in the sky and said " What The Hell Is That"? Now we know but, not all believe it was just a rocket.

[JoanneMcD]

OMJ!!! Saw this -- thought maybe plane. I was in Bordentown, NJ, at the time. Very interesting.

[WoofsAndWhiskers]

Thank you so much for posting this. I am in Lansdale, PA and saw it Saturday night and have been trying to explain it to everyone!

[NNJswampman]

I saw this from north western NJ close to High Point. Great info. Thanks for taking time to post.

[clipdan]

no really, thanks for posting this... I was looking online for awhile. and PS: I knew the object on the bottom was commercial aircraft... you can see the red ID light flashing...

[MrLeoCT]

aidelade27: You are right that we New Englanders are most of the reports. It may be that we had good atmospheric conditions. It may be that this link is on several N.E. Yahoo Groups. It may be that we had several Star Parties this past weekend.

Wildflowerbx: You say the video is too fast. Did you read the "8x speed" note on the video? After three 8x passes there is one at normal (jerky) speed.

HalfCockedMD: Thank you for the interesting video, many from CSP appreciate it.

[HalfCockedMD]

9-22-09... o.k., for the last time:

1. The object near the bottom (moving left-to-right) during the cloud dispersal is just a plane going into nearby BWI.

2. As explained in the comments, the slow frame rate is caused by the 2-3 FPS "shutter" speed, in my camcorder's color night mode.

And honestly, some of the comments I've gotten about this being a UFO, or gov't chemtrail release, or accusing me of lying or fabricating this video, are simply absurd. Take your meds, conspiracy nuts. :-)

[panterastang]

yeah, most people had no idea about this project so when they saw it was like...wowah wtf!

[clipdan]

A small group of us were having some drinks and hanging out on the beach in South Yarmouth, MA - Cape Cod, when we saw this... We didnt know about the launch, so of course we were all like... 'what the Hell is that?' Thanks for sharing this.... =)

[AchilliesHD]

WTF...is this red disc that flys across the bottom of the screen!... looks like and UFO!...

[xapie128]

Watch the regular speed section at the end. The warning lights flashing on the commercial plane you saw are clearly visible.

[MsSynda]

I was setting on my front porch and seen this !!!!!! It was so awesome !!!! Wish I had known it was going to happen,would have video it myself.

[MsSynda]

I was setting on my front porch and seen this...it was awesome!!!!!!! Was so funny at the time I had NO idea what I had just seen...thought maybe God was trying to tell me to go into the light.

[ampedee]

what is that red disc that flys across the bottom of the screen?

[AlphaPiTau1925]

saw it in Keene, NH at 7:50pm. i viewed the object for around 45 seconds though and actually saw the ball of light from the top sit in the sky and dim out until it vanished after 5 seconds leaving behind the clous of light to fade away for another 20 seconds

[yeahitsk]

I took a look and learned more- thanks for posting. Truncated nozzle and dynamic dust model aside, you folks made some pretty spectacular fireworks this weekend.

[bjatle1234]

6 of us saw this in loysville on a mtn top why were there so many planes after if left.

[MisterWilk]

Hello All! I'm a member of the science team who conducted this experiment. We're thrilled that you all got to see it and have really enjoyed reading your posts. Do a google search for the following to find a presentation from May 2009 describing the experiment in detail.

"CARE Charged Aerosol Release Experiment Program Update"

[MisterWilk]

For those of you who saw a "different" looking cloud...it's entirely likely since you're viewing it through different atmospheric conditions, different angle, etc. The release was also very high so was visible, assuming ideal viewing conditions (which was the case), from very far away.

[iamjackskid1956]

I was in Mallory Square, Key West, Fl. It was approximately 6:30 pm DST. The sky was still very well lit. I don't know why I looked up, but when I did I saw a large bright, stationary light. Beneath it I saw a smaller light moving from 5 to 7 o'clock. It was not a cone, blast or cloud. The sky was clear. It was free moving and moving around. At times not visible. This lasted for about 5 minutes. Many gathered at the square observed this.

[xapie128]

You didn't see the same thing. 1) I doubt you could have seen this from Key West, 2) even if you could have, it wouldn't be "a large bright, stationary light," and 3) everyone who saw it said it disappeared withing 60 seconds, not 5 minutes.

[siliconebobsqpts]

Saw it from Zionsville Pa. .Had my 8" Dobsonian telescope fogg up a minute earlier, At first thought it was a comet then realized tail was in the wrong direction.....Wher did the rocket land, or is in orbit or headed for deep space?

[xapie128]

A BBXII is a 4-stage rocket. All 4 stages landed in the Atlantic Ocean and progressively farther distances from the launch site. The 4th stage would have hit the water a little more than 200 miles off shore. A Notice to Mariners was issued prior to launch, surveillance aircraft also made sure the Range was clear in the final countdown. It's really quite similar to what happens with launches at the Cape in Florida.

[theredcorbe]

Thanks for the vid. I too find the video fishy, not because theres something wrong with it, but because this was seen from Myrtle Beach, SC all the way to several spots in canada. In all sightings it was described the same way.

However, for it to have actually been seen the same way over those great distances, it would have to have been much larger than that rocket actually was. It would have to be enormous.

Also, What is the object at the bottom of the video going left to right?

[HalfCockedMD]

theredcorbe- obviously, you're not looking at the rocket. You're looking at the 4th stage exhaust plume, and it's spreading out across dozens of miles in the near vacuum 173 miles up, and illuminated by sunlight, exactly as the experiment was designed to do.

The light travelling left-to-right at the bottom was just a passenger jet, I'm 20 miles NW of BWI airport, it would be impossible NOT to have a plane go through the field in any video more than a minute long, where I live.

[MastaFoo69]

a batch of my friends saw it also. Bloomsburg PA

[aidelade27]

It's very interesting that people who live in New England were able to see it just as clearly as we did down in the south. I saw it in Baltimore EXACTLY like this and when I came back up to Philly, my friend said she saw the same thing. Very weird. Didn't know what the heck it was but now it's all clear.

[2dawolf]

Saw it too, but in Arlington MA, seemed much bigger than in the video, also, for it to be seen at that size in Arlington ma, it would have to be over 100 miles big, seems fishy

[GINGERKIDinc]

saw this is beekmantown during a camp fire evryone was freekin out

[mscanada1990]

--> from ontario canada- also saw it

[cyjack1]

Saw it from Woodstock. Ct

[Metzger624Meister]

there is something weird about this video. why is the first camera shot in the beginnig so bright, but the next is much darker? lso look at the placement of the planet. At first it was way to the left, but afterwards it;s on the right. this vid just doesn't add up. if you read this then watch the vid closely

[xapie128]

The beginning is the rocket rising just after launch. The "cloud" caused by the 4th stage firing happened 6-min 13-sec after launch. The author of the video cut out nearly 6 minutes of it so you wouldn't have to just watch black sky the whole time. He obviously re-positioned the camera because he knew where to look for the 4th stage event.

[Metzger624Meister]

i agree, i could see it also, and in the video here it shows the cloud disperse faster than what it really did, even in the actual speed

[andypandy687]

2 friends saw it, nw ct.

[RachaelWebsterr]

i dont understand why we would all be able to see the same "rocket" from many different states

[xapie128]

In a sense it is the same reason people can see the moon from many different states. The 4th stage firing happened at an altitude higher than the Space Shuttle or ISS orbits. The higher you go, the more people can see it.

[judie1952]

and you are right .....no clouds at all.......very strange!

[judie1952]

My family and I were having a Bonfire for my Granddaughter's birthday when we saw the same thing in Burlington, CT........we were convinced it was a UFO...I even made "Alien" pancakes the next morning for the kids!

[MastrGuy4]

and it was clear as night...no clouds..hmmmm

[Plumcrazy1]

That's what we saw while we were on Race Point Beach in Provincetown , MA.

[Officialaswagg]

We saw that and thought it was a UFO...NASA has to warn us about the launches

[wildflowerbx]

NO, that was kind of close, but not how I saw it. I was in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx in an open Parking lot. It was several of us and we saw it from begining to end. The light opened up brighter than this, for a longer period of time and it reached much farther down towards the earth. It stood on and steady for several seconds before dissapearing. This is not what we saw. This clip is much too fast and the light dissapeared too fast. I know what I saw and it was not this.

[MrAntoniotulio]

I agree with  you what we saw in shelton CT. was very strong and it lit the area below it almost came down to the height of the telephone pole and then went away in to a slight pink light I showed my 9 yr old who was with me this vido and the first thing out of his mouth was thats not what we saw...

[xapie128]

The reason you didn't see the same thing as other descriptions given here is that it depends on where you were in relation to the 4th stage firing. I was only about 8 miles from where it was launched, so when I saw the 4th stage fire I was looking up the tail end of the rocket. Instead of a cone shaped display, I saw a circular expansion of the plume--not unlike a fast expanding firework. But the more "on edge" your perspective was, then the more triangular shape and elongated you'd see.

[lightingduck]

We are along the mountains in Newville pa(south central Pennsylvania) and saw the bright light with the beam of light. THen saw the cloud form .how cool is that? We thought UFO

[MrLeoCT]

The entire scope field at Connecticut Star Party (CSP) stood in awe at the intense white light. No one could guess what stationary object could cause the cone of "smoke". Today an ASNH member posted this YouTube video and it looked exactly like that from 300+miles North.

[mookitty777]

:( I saw this at like 745pm on Roanoke Island NC I was out walking at night looked up and I saw this! I thought I had seen something really mystical and awesome... turns out it was just another one of mans experiments....

[inconnujones]

I was outside in my driveway with my daughter in Western Maryland. She is 13 and always looking at the constellations. She said "Dad Look". My view seemed to be more of a side view than underneath like this one. She spent the rest of the evenings during the weekend looking out the window where the light came from. I am glad I can now show her what caused that and reassure her that she is not going to be abducted.

[alphakry]

I was upstate in a perfectly clear camping ground with zero light pollution and that site at 0:47 freaked us out!!

[m109rbully]

My buddy seen this North East Pa. Kenderdale . They didnt know what it was. Very cool.

[TheRecluse77]

So what was released in the atmosphere to create this cloud? I have seen reports from Ontario Canada seeing this... was there more than one dispersal or is it likely they witnessed the same one? If anyone knows your input would be appreciated. Great vid btw

[HalfCockedMD]

TheRecluse77 -

The 4th stage of the rocket is what produced the cloud. Everyone who saw the large glowing cone-shaped light that evening, was seeing the same event.

I added a link to NASA's web page about the project, to the video description (upper right.)

[laketrout112]

saw it from central NJ while night fishing. spooked us all..

[usmile636]

nice

[tbean146]

I was out Camping on Plum Island Mass last night with a scout troop, while playing a game of "bunker assult" we looked up and were like what the hell?

[Sully1111]

My scout troop was on Block Island camping when they saw this. Wild.

[chris9b0134]

I was out in my kayak in long island sound, just off of Avery point. I had a prime view for this... Amazing. Had no idea what it was, assummed it a rocket. Was so happy to see it in the news, wanted to know wtf it was.

[dbarndt]

We were on Nantucket with our Scout troop and saw it as well - it was a perfectly clear night with no moon, and and get this - we were already at an observatory on the island and gazing at Jupiter and several stars, and then we all saw this. Could you order it up any better? Awesome!!!

[Aviator747a]

I seen this all the way from Cornwall, Ontario,Canada. Actually 20 mins or so outside of my city. I was driving home, going South and all of a sudden I seen this bright object from behind the tree line and was WTF is that? I thought it was an aircraft that had its landing lights on. it looked like a comet, but I didn't know of any that could be visably seen, let alone be that bright. So today I went poking around and found the CNN article on it.

I was definetly a slick sight to behold.

[TheBonesClan]

I saw this happen from Woodstock, NY. Nobody in the house beleived me!!

[DocHerman1]

I just wanted to note that this was seen in Carolina Beach, NC about 8:00 PM. We had estimated it to last no more than 20 seconds. Most reports I had seen were north of VA. It was north of the balcony on which we were standing.

[yeahitsk]

Really cool, can't stop watching this. Looks like there's quite a distance between the end of the launch stage shown in your video and the point of cloud dispersal. I wonder if the rocket got that far on its momentum or if there was another stage that covered the distance. Thanks for posting.

[cashdlz64]

i saw that too and not knowing about the nasa launch made it really weird....so what exactly did it do launch up and then what? and what for?

[abhbrookie]

I SAW THAT LAST NIGHT AT MY FRIEND'S PARTY!! We all thought it was a UFO and we all freaked out!! D:

[RajmansHDGaming]

The end was actual speed? Looked like slow motion...and what was that thing at the bottom of the screen shooting right?

[HalfCockedMD]

The "actual speed" looks like slow motion because the shutter speed is so slow, only 2-3 frames per second. The camcorder has a "night" mode that exposes the CCD for around 1/3 second, so very dim objects can be imaged. So the frames are only updated a couple of times a second.

The object at the bottom was a jet, heading towards BWI airport, which is about 20 miles to the SW.

[yeahitsk]

Saw this last night from Endwell, NY. I had no idea what I was looking at when it happened. It was pretty weird if you weren't expecting it, I'll give it that.

[lynchrw]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The MUFON website has lots and lots of post. Lots of people really thought they saw a UFO. Too funny....

[raystargazer]

Actually, the first thing I thought of was the scene in StarTrek "First Contact" where the Borg broke through. Funny how your rational side fights with your irrational when you're totally confused. We got confirmation at the CSP star party from Vermont that they had seen it and believed it was a rocket launch of some kind. Later one of our attendees got a call from home that Joe Rao sent an email about the intended experimental launch from Delmarva. (assumed it was Wallop). Quite a show!

[lynchrw]

Excellent. Great color contrast! I observed the plume from up in Western, MA. Ut uwas great. I tok a serious of digital snapshots and posted on youtube as wel. I will post a link to you. I would like to hear your thoughts.

[geekengineer]

Awesome video. I live just west of DC, and I was able to see the whole thing from my apartment.

[HalfCockedMD]

Looking back at the NASA mission timeline for this launch, I now think I was mistaken about the bright plume (first seen at 0:21) being the cloud dispersal.

In fact, I think the bright, cone-shaped plume was actually the exhaust from the 4th stage of the rocket, which was to take place at six minutes, 13 seconds after launch. This is almost exactly in the original video when this appeared.

If anyone involved with the mission reads this, I would appreciate your comments.

[ThePhobiaViewed]

sorry if this is a double comment but idk if it posted the first try. An article on NASA's website says this: "Using ground based instruments and the STP/NRL STPSat-1 spacecraft, scientists will study an artificial noctilucent cloud formed by the exhaust particles of the rockets fourth stage at about 173 miles altitude." so it appears both of your statement are actually correct.

[HalfCockedMD]

Aha! Thanks very much for clearing that up!

I wonder if the exhaust particles will stratify in the upper atmosphere, and perhaps become more visible tonight. It was my understanding that the cloud was going to be monitored for several days... so I was disappointed when the plume faded away after only 60 seconds. I did see some high altitude clouds later in the evening, but they didn't look anything like noctilucent clouds.

In any case, we couldn't have had better weather for the launch!

[ThePhobiaViewed]

It was only visible here for maybe 15 seconds, I'm assuming that's because what we saw was the rocket engine illuminating the exhaust. It really was the perfect weather though, the fact that it was perfectly clear with no clouds in the sky made the whole thing more eerie to those of us who didn't know about the NASA launch.

[XgenArea51]

haha saw that last night. Thought it was a plane exploding or a UFO or a supernova or summat

[theXend007]

my friends and i were out observing and i saw thing and pointed it out and we were all so confused, i'm glad we aren't crazy. location: Montoursville PA

[ThePhobiaViewed]

No way! me too. Oh wait you were at my house, nvm...

[jmr1068204]

What's that at the bottom that goes by at :22, a good distance under the cloud dispersal and to the right of it?

[HalfCockedMD]

That was just a passenger jet; we're about 20 miles NW of BWI airport and get a lot of air traffic in our area.

[drummerdscott]

we saw the cloud dispersal at a wedding in pennsylvania. everyone assumed a ufo siting but after reading up on it and watching this is makes more sense =D

[Chrisjr2007]

So beautiful!:D

AWESOME!

[penguinsix]

Nice. I'll have to try something like that next time. My video was very very dark.

[auzzie1957]

Very neat - thanks for sharing.

[HalfCockedMD]

The bright "star" near the center is Jupiter.