Mysterious ‘space jellyfish’ lit up the skies of Florida, what are they all about? Teach me about science

The image you see in the header of this note is a shot taken in the early hours of Thursday, May 5 by a camera in Waycross, Georgia and is currently circulating on social networks. The phenomenon captured in the southern United States seemed very mysterious and could cause a great mystery to observers who are wondering why such a strange figure in the sky, an airplane or extraterrestrial signals?

Actually none of this, and while it may sound simple, this strange celestial body has a scientific explanation, and Professor of Aerodynamics and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas, Chris Coombs, set out to explain it to our curious internet users thus avoiding any false theory.

Well, the effect was from the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, about 400 kilometers from camera capture, to begin with, as shown in Live Science.

As you can see in the video below, the object shone in the dark sky as the first rays of the sun appeared and flew over the city with what looked like an elongated head and tail that widened. Chris Coombs mentioned them as space jellyfish because of their special shape.

Space jellyfish

From the launch of SpaceX today. beauty pic.twitter.com/98mzIGHDOM

– Chris Combs (@DrChrisCombs) May 6 2022

However, this is not a common phenomenon that occurs every time a projectile of this style is ejected from the Earth, in this way, Chris Coombs describes that a visible celestial body is due to a combination of physics and optimal environmental conditions.

In this way, the shape of the space jellyfish simply corresponds to the exhaust that exits the nozzle of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket engine. The nozzle is a bell-shaped structure that can be seen at the far end of a space rocket, and its function is to obtain thrust for launch.

For its part, the exit of the exhaust from the nozzle was observed in this characteristic way due to the difference in pressure within this structure compared to atmospheric pressure and the consequent compensation made to balance the said pressures. Thus, Coombs states that the exhaust pressure at the nozzle is higher than atmospheric pressure, and therefore is “low expansion”; When the exhaust leaves the missile, it expands automatically to reduce its pressure to atmospheric pressure.

In this way, by equalizing the exhaust pressure on departure, an expanding “fan” effect is produced that enhances the unique exhaust ejection shown in the photo and video. For its part, the observation of this effect occurred with that characteristic brightness due to the launch time of the rocket, which was just before dawn on Thursday, which means that the sun will be above the horizon and will illuminate the incoming column of air. from the crater, as described by Combs according to Live Science.

So, the “space jellyfish” was nothing more than the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just in time for the Sun to illuminate its departure into space.

The note was based on: Space jellyfish