Launch Glow
How it works

Can you see the next launch?

This is the jellyfish

Real photos. Sunlight catches the exhaust high up while your sky is dark.

Rocket jellyfish photo: CRS-35 · Oct 13, 2026
CRS-35 · Oct 13, 2026Strumtastic16 · CC0
Rocket jellyfish photo: Iridium-4 over Los Angeles · 2017
Iridium-4 over Los Angeles · 2017Kevin Gill · CC BY 2.0
Rocket jellyfish photo: Inspiration4 · 2021
Inspiration4 · 2021ZLEA · CC0
Rocket jellyfish photo: April 22, 2026
April 22, 2026Karaj28 · CC BY 4.0
Rocket jellyfish photo: Crew-2 · 2021
Crew-2 · 2021ZLEA · CC BY-SA 4.0
Rocket jellyfish photo: Space jellyfish
Space jellyfishOdalagerJ · CC0
A crowd watching a Space Shuttle launch from across the water

Watch it together

  1. Head out 10 minutes early.
  2. Find a clear, low view in the arrow’s direction.
  3. Phones away. Let your eyes adjust.
  4. It glows for just a few minutes.
  5. Blanket. Cocoa. Wonder.
  6. Snap one photo, then just look.

Spectators watch Discovery’s final launch, 2011 · NASA/Ben Cooper · Public domain

How it works

A rocket climbs above 100 km in about 3 minutes. Up there it can still be in sunlight when your sky is dark. That lights the exhaust into a glowing “jellyfish.”

Best: launch 30–120 minutes before your sunrise or after your sunset, within roughly 1,000–1,500 km of the pad.

This is an estimate. We model a typical Falcon 9 climb along a guessed direction, then check what is above your horizon and what is in sunlight. Clouds, haze, and delays matter. Launch times can slip. Data: Launch Library 2. Places: © OpenStreetMap. Clouds: NWS.