October 15, 2025
Another birthday means another year in which the universe got to experience itself through your particular combination of wonder and will.
Rocket Launch Plume over Tucson
Birthday · October 15, 2025
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APOD published October 15, 2025. Credit: Wayne Showalter. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Yes, but can your sunset do this? Looking west from Tucson, Arizona, USA one day last month, the sunset sky looked strange when it briefly lit up with the plume of a rocket launched from California a few minutes earlier. Appearing at times like a giant space fish, the impressive rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California, was so noticeable because it was backlit by the setting Sun. The Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivered to low Earth orbit 28 Starlink communications satellites. The plume from the first stage is seen on the right, while the soaring upper stage rocket is seen at the apex of the plume on the far left. The picturesque foreground includes the arms of saguaro cacti, city lights of Tucson, and the Tucson Mountains.
Image credit: Wayne Showalter