Night Sky Turned Red for 10 Minutes: Is It Dangerous and Should We Blame SpaceX It?

The latest launch of the Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX tinted the evening sky a frightening shade of red, according to a report, that's visible in long-exposure images captured by astrophotographers.

In a Facebook post, photographer David Johnston wrote he was shooting the Milky Way behind certain silhouetted rocks when all of a sudden, one of his many images "had this prominent red blob right in front of the core" that had been in that area in the previous image three minutes before, a Futururism report said.

The FB post also said he was annoyed as it ruined his image, although he said he figured "it would go away."

However, the object grew over the next couple of images and extended to cover a more massive part of the southeastern sky.

Coinciding with the SpaceX Launch

Later on, the photographer realized that in the first red-tinted image he captured, the impact was not visible to the naked eye; nearly perfect coincided with the timing of the launch of SpaceX, as well as the reentry engine burn of its initial stage, making its return to the ground.

The photographer later told the Washington Post that before figuring out what he was looking for, he didn't know what this was, "and it was kind of freaking me out."

Experts in space weather later verified that the photographer's suspicion was possibly correct. More so, oxygen ions produced from the second stage igniting Falcon 9 react with other molecules in the night sky, which, in turn, excite electrons and generate a red glow.

According to physicist Jeff Baumgardner from Boston University, this glow, perhaps, is the exhaust gasses from the second stage of the rocket, causing the ionosphere to recombine fast.

He added that this is a well-examined phenomenon when rocket engines are firing at 200 to 250 kilometers.

It remains unclear how dangerous the red glows are to the environment worldwide. While space weather experts are still investigating the full environmental effect of rocket launches, there are some early indications already that the occurrence is something to be worried about, which is particularly relevant considering that launches are quickly becoming more frequent.

Is the Falcon 9 Rocket to be Blamed?

Aside from Johnston, photographers from North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, and New York saw the glow, too. It occurred roughly 10 minutes after the Falcon 9 took off, and many observers likened its appearance to auroras. Nonetheless, there was no developing geomagnetic storm, and thus, it had to be the rocket.

To simply put, here's what takes place, according to Spaceweather.com, the upper atmosphere is full of oxygen ions or O+. Of great interest is the ionosphere's F-layer, as it is filled with O+.

Essentially, when Falcon 9 rocket reaches the F-layer, it then adds carbon dioxide or CO2 or water or H2O to the mix, rushing out of its engine.

Oxygen ions starve for electrons, and the newly appearing molecules are eager to provide them. More so, electrons recombine with oxygen, transforming ions into atoms.

As electrons cascade down the energy levels of the oxygen atom, they emit red photons at a wavelength of 6300 A, the same color as red auroras.

A related report about a SpaceX rocket being spotted in the colorful night sky is shown on KJRH-TV's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on the SpaceX mission on Science Times.