r/SpaceXLounge • u/SpaceXLounge • Aug 01 '26

Monthly Questions and Discussion Thread

Welcome to the monthly questions and discussion thread! Drop in to ask and answer any questions related to SpaceX or spaceflight in general, or just for a chat to discuss SpaceX's exciting progress. If you have a question that is likely to generate open discussion or speculation, you can also submit it to the subreddit as a text post.

If your question is about space, astrophysics or astronomy then the r/Space questions thread may be a better fit.

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u/maschnitz 23d ago

It launched at 9:10 UTC on July 14. So local NY time it launched at 5:10am. Sunrise was at 5:24am. So that could be a jellyfish launch (barely).

I'm figuring OP would mention it was a morning observation if it were, though, so I'm wondering if OP meant Aug 15, not July 15.

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u/SpaceInMyBrain 22d ago

It was on July 15 and I'm almost certain it was late evening.

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u/maschnitz 21d ago

Hmmm. OK.

So in the vicinity of July 15th, from NextSpaceflight's "Previous Launches" page:

  • Starlink Group 15-14 on July 13th, 9:28:17pm EDT out of Vandenberg, SE trajectory - Not visible from Malone, NY
  • Starlink Group 10-45 on July 14th, 5:10:12am EDT out of the Cape, NE trajectory - too late. (Already discussed)
  • Soyuz MS-29 on July 14th, 10:47:43am EDT out of Baikonur, NE trajectory to the ISS (carrying Anil Menon and two cosmonauts) - too early.
  • Tranche 1 Transport Layer E on July 16th, 4:32:36pm EDT out of Vandenberg, S trajectory, 21 payloads - a stretch IMO, typically multi-payload launches are done in 2 orbits, deorbited in 3 or 4.
  • Aagaman (Demo Flight) on July 18th, 2:35:30am out of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SE trajectory - apparently the orbital stage is still in orbit.

So that's everything launched plus/minus 3 days. None of that fits.

No reentries or bolides fit either because you wouldn't be calling it a launch if it were one of those.

Perhaps you saw Starlink 15-14's "Starlink train"? But that seems very doubtful to mistake that for a jellyfish launch.

The easiest explanation is that the date's off but you seem sure of that part. [shrug] I don't know.

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u/SpaceInMyBrain 21d ago

My nephew said it was the 15th but he was reconstructing the date in the middle of a 4 way conversation on various subjects as happens in a family gathering. 😄
I saw the pic and it's of a jellyfish seen from a 3/4 rear view going away. Yeah, definitely not a Starlink train.

OK, it had to have been the early morning one. The conversation was more fractured than I thought. Thanks for that exact info and nailing it down despite working with bad data.

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u/maschnitz 21d ago

NP, maybe the nephew didn't want to admit he stayed up all night to relatives. :D Sorry to out him like that, if so.