Mesmerizing blue swirl rises in night sky after SpaceX launch

SpaceX spy satellite launch leaves otherworldly spiral in the sky.

Monday’s SpaceX launch was carrying a classified satellite to space, but the secret payload was not the cause of an unusual glowing spiral seen in the skies of Europe.

The cause of the cloud was either an exhaust plume or leftover fuel being vented from the upper stage of the rocket.

SpaceX and other launch companies routinely try to minimize space junk by allowing spent upper stages to burn up in the atmosphere. It’s likely that, after the upper stage released the satellite, engineers commanded it to dump fuel before it burned up. It may have been slowly rotating or spinning in space, creating the slow swirling effect.

That plume, then, caught the sunlight, making it stand out in the dark night sky.