Photographer Jesse Watson took this jaw-dropping timelapse of the recent December 22nd SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base (as seen from Yuma, Arizona). Watson explains:
I scouted four locations that had foregrounds to add depth to the imagery and was uniquely inspiring to my hometown. Location choices were between a favorite local hiking mountain, the Imperial Sand Dunes, or a small hill that resides in the historic downtown area overlooking the city. I ended up choosing the location that overlooked the city, partially because it was the easiest to access with all of my time-lapse gear. I used The Photographer’s Ephemeris and Google Maps to help scouting and initial line up. I ended up shooting 2452 images and culled that down to 1315 images for the final project edited in Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro.
While the effect of the rocket is kind of beautiful in a way it also managed to freak a lot of people out. When something goes flying through the sky at such a good clip as this those that are bound to notice it are likely going to think that something is wrong, or that something is very, very strange. The rocket was the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that was laden with telcomm satellites for the Iridium Satellite Communications company. It seems odd that the rocket would be so low in the sky as to allow people to see it but if it was meant to be deploying satellites necessary for their business then it might behoove people to finally look online and read the many newscasts and articles that would gladly explain just what it was.
One big reason why people are so freaked out by this at the moment has to do with the very real threat that has been realized when our current POTUS began making empty (hopefully) threats concerning what might happen if anyone (cough cough, North Korea, cough) decides to act aggressively towards the USA. Republicans might not be taking the back and forth posturing too seriously and have their faith set in Trump, but the rest of the world tends to be holding their breath just a little in the hopes that cooler heads will prevail.
Barring that however, some people tended to think that the rocket was some sort of UFO, or even Santa Claus as someone jokingly said. No matter what it was thought to be however it was something that a great many people stopped and watched without a clue as to what it could really be or even the idea to turn on the news and catch a glimpse of someone that happened to know what was going on explaining. At that moment, despite how beautiful the sight is, it becomes enough to worry about humanity again, that we might look up in the sky and see a light and be frightened or unnerved enough to stop thinking for ourselves.
Yes it looked odd, yes it looked like something we don’t see every day. But come on people, turn on the news or read an article. You might be surprised at how much you can learn.
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