                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2021 September 4

                              A Falcon 9 Nebula
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Dennis Huff

   Explanation: Not the Hubble Space Telescope's latest view of a distant
   galactic nebula, this illuminated cloud of gas and dust dazzled early
   morning spacecoast skygazers on August 29. The snapshot was taken at
   3:17am from Space View Park in Titusville, Florida. That's about 3
   minutes after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the CRS-23
   mission to resupply the International Space Station. It captures
   drifting plumes and exhaust from the separated first and second stage
   of the rocket rising through still dark skies. The lower bright dot is
   the second stage continuing on to low Earth orbit. The upper one is the
   rocket's first stage performing a boostback burn. Of course the first
   stage booster returned to make the first landing on the latest
   autonomous drone ship to arrive in the Atlantic, A Short Fall of
   Gravitas.

                     Tomorrow's picture: Earth and Moon
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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