Interesting Photo of the Day: Long Exposure of a Rocket Launch

Interesting Photos  •  Long Exposure Photography

There are no special effects at work in this magical-looking image taken by Mike Killian. The photograph documents the rocket launch of two Van Allen Probes, which are currently orbiting our planet to gather information about the sun’s effect on the Earth and its atmosphere from Earth’s radiation belts:

The rocket leaves a beautifully curved trail of light in the night sky. (Via Imgur. Click for larger size.)

The curve of the rocket’s trail may look as though it came back down to the ground shortly after being launched, but it actually shows the rocket beginning to orbit the Earth.