Mike Jargowsky of Sea Isle City captured this image of the streaking rocket in the predawn sky.
Mike Jargowsky was alarmed at first when the nighttime sky suddenly erupted in a dazzling light show at around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday over Sea Isle City.
“It kinda shook me up,” he said.
Streaking overhead in spectacular fashion was SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn rocket launch that could be seen above the East Coast after lifting off from Florida before dawn Tuesday with four people aboard.
“It’s something you rarely see up here,” Jargowsky said.
He was able to capture some cellphone photos of the rocket’s awesome light display while riding his bike in Sea Isle early in the morning.
“At first, I thought it was a comet, but it was moving too fast. It was moving too slow for a meteorite,” Jargowsky said. “I just could not comprehend what it could be until I Googled ‘rocket launches’ and saw that SpaceX sent that rocket up and it followed the coast.”
Jargowsky witnessed his share of fierce coastal storms, floods, blizzards and other natural calamities while formerly serving as Sea Isle’s deputy emergency management coordinator and then emergency management coordinator from 2008 to 2024.
But he never saw a rocket spectacularly fly over the coast like the SpaceX craft – until Tuesday morning.
“I was thinking it was celestial, but it was something I’ve never experienced. I’m used to seeing rabbits, foxes, and other nocturnal animals during that time of the morning, not a rocket!” he said.
A YouTube video of the rocket streaking over the New Jersey coast at North Wildwood was shot by Chris Bakley.
