DAYTON — How is this possible?
It is possible to see a rocket launch from Ohio because rockets reach high altitudes (hundreds of miles up).
Once a rocket climbs above the dense lower atmosphere, sunlight still hits the high-altitude exhaust plume even when the ground in Ohio is dark. This makes the glowing exhaust look like a bright, moving star, “space jellyfish,” or a cone-shaped plume.
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Thankfully the Miami Valley had mainly clear skies and sunrise of roughly 7:45 AM EDT. Most visible launches happen around dusk or dawn (twilight effect), when the sky is dark on the ground but the rocket is high enough to catch direct sunlight against the upper atmosphere.
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From Ohio the launch typically appears as a fast-moving, bright point of light or a glowing expanding cloud/plume a few minutes after liftoff (often visible roughly 3 to 5.5 minutes later depending on the site).
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