Those looking to the sky on the North Island’s east coast were treated to a spectacular sight last night as a Rocket Lab launch produced the rare phenomenon known as a “space jellyfish”.
The glowing formation appeared shortly after Rocket Lab’s latest launch from Māhia, prompting dozens of social media users across the North Island to share photos and ask what they were seeing.
Murray Robinson, in Ōmaio Bay on the East Cape, was fishing when he spotted an unusual cloud in the sky.
“I started off thinking it was a plane vapour trail, but then I realised, no, it was something more,” Robinson said.
“There was this bright object at the front, and then I just saw it sort of dropping from the sky.”
Robinson said he first noticed the phenomenon after casting his fishing rod and turning to look inland.
“I looked at the sky and went, ‘Wow, what’s that? That looks cool’. Then realised, ‘Oh, that’s something a bit different. I’ll grab my camera and take a few photos’.”
The images show a bright, twisting plume stretching across the evening sky.
Robinson said he initially wondered whether it could have been space junk or a meteor.
He later learned it may have been connected to the Rocket Lab launch from Māhia, an explanation he said made sense given he had been looking south from the eastern Bay of Plenty coast.
“It just looks spectacular. I just stood there and gazed at it thinking, ‘This is amazing. This is really cool’.”
Reports of the phenomenon came from across the North Island, including Tokoroa, Rotorua, Hastings, Dannevirke, Manawatū, Masterton and communities along the East Coast.
Earlier in the day, the Tauranga Astronomical Society had given followers a heads-up that there was a chance of a so-called “space jellyfish” appearing if launch conditions lined up.
A space jellyfish occurs when a rocket’s exhaust plume is illuminated by sunlight at high altitude while observers on the ground are already in darkness.
The glowing plume can create a striking jellyfish-shaped appearance often mistaken for a UFO.
Rocket Lab told the Herald it was their 98th Electron rocket launched from the Māhia site.
“People have shared their photos and reported seeing the launch from Tauranga through to Wellington,” a Rocket Lab spokesperson said.
“It’s always great to see such strong support for our missions from across the country.”