Space Shuttle Discovery launched late Friday with a thundering roar, creating a sunrise at midnight as blazing engines illuminated a night sky that no longer looked like night. Tampabay.com readers shared some awesome photos from Cape Canaveral, Tampa and spots in between.

James Houck was watching in Holiday and snapped this beautiful photo, a 3.5-minute exposure of the launch. 

Tim Wilmath shot this photo at midnight from downtown Tampa.

Rick Mugavero took this photo from Spaceview Park in Titusville. 

James Ostrand, of St. Petersburg, was on the the Merritt Island Causeway across from Cape Canaveral when the shuttle took off.

Wayne Cathel, a freelance photographer, shared this shot from Clearwater. He writes: "If you look closely, you can see Clearwater High School in the background, where astronaut Nicole Stott attended school. Stott (the only female astronaut aboard) is making her debut as a Mission Specialist on this historic mission. Stott will also be one of the last astronauts to be transported to the International Space Station where she will be spending 4 months in space and blogging about her experience along the way."

Richard Snell shot this photo from his Snell Island balcony. He says he sat outside a few nights before testing exposures and F Stops to see what would give him a good long exposure without overexposing the foreground and background.  I also used the planes landing at TIA as “mock” Discoverys in the testing.  "I had NASA TV on in the background when she launched to know when to open the shutter and caught one of my best personal pictures to date," Snell wrote. 

View more photos, vote for your favorite.

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St. Petersburg Times photographers captured some great shots from St. Petersburg; see them in our photo blog, All Eyes.

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