Copyright: Jeng-Lun (Alan) Chiu (Space Sciences Laboratory, UC. Berkeley)
- Date: 21:16, Dec 28, 2014 (UTC)
- Location: LDB site @ McMurdo, Antarctica
- Photo Description: A fantastic scene occurred when a "super pressure balloon (filled in Helium)" was launched for the first scientific payload - Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) from Antarctica in December 2014. A 22-deg halo, refracted by millions of randomly oriented hexagonal ice crystals, appeared during the ascending process when a sudden fog was fading away. The upper and lower arc was also seen within ten minutes. The Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF, a NASA facility) is now carrying out a test flight with a super pressure balloon, which was launched for a ultra long duration balloon (ULDB) flight around the world on Mar 27 from Wanaka, New Zealand. It's almost floating all around the world!
- NASA's scientific balloon with a 22-deg halo (1)
- NASA's scientific balloon with a 22-deg halo (2)
- NASA's scientific balloon with a 22-deg halo (3)
- References:
(1) Super pressure balloon : http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code820/spb.html
(2) Nature news for COSI launch : http://www.nature.com/news/nasa-launche ... on-1.16642
(3) COSI : http://hea.ssl.berkeley.edu/
(4) CSBF : http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/
(5) SPB flight from Wanaka, NZ : http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/newzealand/wanaka.htm
(6) News for (5) : http://stratocat.com.ar/indexe.html
