SpaceX launch creates 'jellyfish' effect

Usually jellyfish or an unwelcome sight, but this morning a jellyfish in the sky gave people quite a thrill, or at least a jellyfish cloud as we call them. It was created by a SpaceX rocket launch. Tons of you sent in photos and videos of this phenomenon. Fox 13's Evan Axelbank explains the science behind this ethereal blob. It's not a UFO, it's not aliens, it's not a nuclear bomb, it's not cloud seeding, but it is happening four and a half times as high in the sky as most planes fly. I don't know what's going on over there. There's some sort of like light. This is video sent to me this morning by my sister, Sean Axelbank. This is weird. Is this weird? She was asking me if anyone at FOX 13 would know what this was. It does look like a heart on the side. Well, my first assumption was that it was the sun reflecting off a cloud. Three, one, ignition. It wasn't quite right. What I didn't realize is that there was a SpaceX launch this morning. As a result of that launch, a trail of exhaust was left behind in the atmosphere, at least 30 miles above the ground, if not higher. Because it was at 6.30 in the morning and the sun wasn't yet visible to those of us on the ground, the light could still reflect off of something so high in the atmosphere. So what you're seeing is the sun reflecting off of the engine exhaust that the rocket left behind. It's just sunlight that reflects off that cloud. And yeah, because it's so high up compared to where we are. So when this really only happens when we have rocket launches like the one this morning, just before dawn. So the sun is just below the horizon. So the sky in general is dark enough that the light of the reflected sunlight on the fuel really stands out. Is what you're seeing pollution? Actually, no. Dr. McKenna Wood of MOSI says that rocket fuel is mostly made up of things that are already in the atmosphere. That includes liquid hydrogen and oxygen. One of the reasons that it looks the way it does in the atmosphere is because it crystallizes after it's released. The jellyfish is huge. To see this happen again, you're going to have to wait until the next time a rocket is launched during the early morning hours and for the sky to be clear enough. Evan Axelbank, Fox 13 News.