ATLANTA — You may have noticed something strange moving across the sky if you looked outside early Tuesday morning.
It wasn’t a meteor. It was a “jellyfish cloud” from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch in Florida and it was spotted here in Georgia.
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A “jellyfish cloud,” or noctilucent cloud, is visible during rocket launches. Severe Weather Team 2 Chief Meteorologist Brad Nitz says after the launch, the rocket’s exhaust rapidly expands in the very thin upper atmosphere.
As it lifts into the rising sunlight at higher altitude, Nitz says the exhaust illuminates creating the jellyfish shape effect. It only happens for launches just before sunrise or just after sunset.
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Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Brian Monahan captured the “jellyfish cloud” outside our WSB-TV studios in midtown Atlanta on Tuesday. It was just clear enough to view it before it disappeared behind some high clouds.
Were you able to see the launch from your neighborhood this morning? Upload your photos and videos here.
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