What’s happening to this Sun-crossing rocket? The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, visible on the upper left, launched only about one minute before this amazing image was captured. As it rose to low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral , Florida , USA , in late May, the rocket became supersonic before it crossed the disk of the distant Sun — from the perspective of the well-placed photographer. The spacecraft’s high speed caused bow-shaped compressed-air shockwaves to form across leading surfaces, with at least three visible even outside the Sun ‘s disk because they refract sunlight . The trailing exhaust caused turbulence visible on the lower right. None of this was damaging to the robotic Starlink 10-53 mission , which delivered 29 communications satellites to low Earth orbit as planned. And if that isn’t amazing enough – the Sun had spots ! Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (after 1995) Image Credit & Copyright: John Winkopp ( WAI Media ) https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-june-15-triple-shockwave-from-sun-crossing-rocket/