Running circles around the competition: Photo of the Week, Aug. 18-24, 2024

We're not just blowing smoke here: This Photo of the Week by FLORIDA TODAY photojournalist Craig Bailey runs rings around many other launch shots.

Bailey was stationed at Kars Park on North Merritt Island as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying 22 Starlink satellites, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Aug. 20.

The unusual double-ring view he captured — one which even Malcolm Denemark, FLORIDA TODAY senior photographer, said he hadn't seen before — isn't an everyday sight, Bailey assured.

"A lot of times when the vehicle breaks the sound barrier, there's some atmopsheric happenings," Bailey said.

"And occasionally, they blow smoke rings. That's the easiest way to put it ... the vapor caused by the speed of the vehicle, and the shape of it, you get those sorts of effects if the atmospheric conditions are right. It doesn't always do it where you an see it, but you do get the occasional effect like that, the same as the Q-tip effect on the nose of the vehicle."

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Running circles around the competition: Photo of the Week, Aug. 18-24, 2024