A new airborne video of a rocket plume is making people stop and stare, and it's easy to see why. The lower part of the contrail glows in deep sunset shades of crimson and amber, while higher up the plume spreads into an electric-blue shape that viewers are calling a "space jellyfish." The clip appears to show the line where Earth's shadow ends and direct sunlight begins, with the colors changing smoothly as the rocket's trail climbs. Seen from an aircraft, the scene looks less like a normal launch and more like a painting hanging in the sky.

The glow is not magic and not an alarming event. NASA and other observers explain that a jellyfish appears when a rocket launches near sunrise or sunset, so the high plume catches sunlight while the ground below is still dark. As the exhaust spreads out in the thin upper atmosphere, water vapor and other gases can freeze into ice crystals that scatter that light. The low, red-orange part of the trail is lit by sunlight passing through far more air, while the higher, wider cloud picks up cooler tones. Which rocket and launch this clip shows is the question many viewers are asking, and it is worth watching for confirmation from the person who filmed it.