ReFLeX
14th June 2005, 05:21 PM
BLAST, a balloon-borne telescope, flies from Sweden to Canada (http://news.gc.ca/cfmx/CCP/view/en/index.cfm?xml_search=true&articleID=153769)
Longueuil, Quebec, June 13, 2005 – Canada and three partner countries, the U.S., the U.K. and Mexico, are conducting an unusual experiment this week in the Arctic skies. Attached to a huge helium balloon flying at 38,000 metres, a 2,000-kg telescope called BLAST (Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-millimetre Telescope) is staring deep into the sky to study distant stars and galaxies. Launched in Kiruna, Sweden, on June 11, BLAST is expected to fly for six days before reaching Inuvik, on the Beaufort Sea in northern Canada. The two-metre telescope will offer levels of sensitivity and resolution unmatched by any facility on Earth.
"Flying a telescope attached to a balloon is somewhat unusual, but BLAST is a very exciting astronomy mission," said Dr. Alain Berinstain, Director of Planetary Exploration and Space Astronomy at the Canadian Space Agency. "It allows us to make observations from the upper atmosphere, achieving a quality of measurement that would be impossible from the ground."
"BLAST will provide a new view of the universe," said Dr. Barth Netterfield, the Canadian science team leader and professor in the departments of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Toronto. "The mission will shed light on fundamental questions about the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies." BLAST will identify large numbers of distant star-forming galaxies, study the earliest stages of star and planet formation, and make high-resolution maps of diffuse galactic emission.
The balloon costs about one percent of a conventional satellite launch, and it will be measuring cosmic microwaves, of course; the ones apparently dating back to the Big Bang. Exciting...
Longueuil, Quebec, June 13, 2005 – Canada and three partner countries, the U.S., the U.K. and Mexico, are conducting an unusual experiment this week in the Arctic skies. Attached to a huge helium balloon flying at 38,000 metres, a 2,000-kg telescope called BLAST (Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-millimetre Telescope) is staring deep into the sky to study distant stars and galaxies. Launched in Kiruna, Sweden, on June 11, BLAST is expected to fly for six days before reaching Inuvik, on the Beaufort Sea in northern Canada. The two-metre telescope will offer levels of sensitivity and resolution unmatched by any facility on Earth.
"Flying a telescope attached to a balloon is somewhat unusual, but BLAST is a very exciting astronomy mission," said Dr. Alain Berinstain, Director of Planetary Exploration and Space Astronomy at the Canadian Space Agency. "It allows us to make observations from the upper atmosphere, achieving a quality of measurement that would be impossible from the ground."
"BLAST will provide a new view of the universe," said Dr. Barth Netterfield, the Canadian science team leader and professor in the departments of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Toronto. "The mission will shed light on fundamental questions about the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies." BLAST will identify large numbers of distant star-forming galaxies, study the earliest stages of star and planet formation, and make high-resolution maps of diffuse galactic emission.
The balloon costs about one percent of a conventional satellite launch, and it will be measuring cosmic microwaves, of course; the ones apparently dating back to the Big Bang. Exciting...