Rocket Transits Rippling Sun

Explanation: The launch of a rocket at sunrise can result in unusual but intriguing images that feature both the rocket and the Sun. Such was the case last month when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center carrying 53 more Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit . In the featured launch picture , the rocket's exhaust plume glows beyond its projection onto the distant Sun , the rocket itself appears oddly jagged , and the Sun's lower edge shows peculiar drip-like ripples . The physical cause of all of these effects is pockets of relatively hot or rarefied air deflecting sunlight less strongly than pockets relatively cool or compressed air: refraction . Unaware of the Earthly show, active sunspot region 3014 -- on the upper left -- slowly crosses the Sun .