Balloon-borne telescope

A balloon-borne telescope is a type of airborne telescope, a sub-orbital astronomical telescope that is suspended below one or more stratospheric balloons, allowing it to be lifted above the lower, dense part of the Earth's atmosphere. This has the advantage of improving the resolution limit of the telescope at a much lower cost than for a space telescope. It also allows observation of frequency bands that are blocked by the atmosphere.^[1]

Skyhook balloon, launched September 1957 as part of Project Stratoscope, photographed the Sun in high resolution

Overview of wavelengths observable at different altitudes.

History

Balloon-borne telescopes have been used for observation from the stratosphere since the Stratoscope I was launched in 1957.^[2] A number of different instruments have since been carried aloft by balloons for observation in the infrared, microwave, X-ray and gamma ray bands. The BOOMERanG experiment, flown between 1997–2003,^[3] and the MAXIMA, which made flights in 1998 and 1999,^[4] were used to map the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation.

Disadvantages

Balloon-borne telescopes have the disadvantage of relatively low altitude and a flight time of only a few days. However, their maximum altitude of about 50 km is much higher than the limiting altitude of aircraft-borne telescopes such as the Kuiper Airborne Observatory and Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, which have a limiting altitude of 15 km.^[1][5] A few balloon-borne telescopes have crash landed, resulting in damage to, or destruction of the telescope.

The balloon obscures the zenith from the telescope, but a very long suspension can reduce this to a range of 2°. The telescope must be isolated from the induced motion of the stratospheric winds as well as the slow rotation and pendulum motion of the balloon. The azimuth stability can be maintained by a magnetometer, plus a gyroscope or star tracker for shorter term corrections. A three axis mount gives the best control over the tube motion, consisting of an azimuth, elevation and cross-elevation axis.^[5]

Missions

Name	Active	Description and purpose
Stratoscope I	1957–59	12-inch telescope attached to a polyethylene balloon.[2] This was the first balloon-borne astronomical telescope.[6] It took photographic images of the sun, showing granulation features. In 1959 it was flown again, this time with a television transmitter.[2]
Stratoscope II	1963–71	36-inch telescope with a tandem balloon system.[2]
THISBE	1973–76	Infrared telescope used for observations of extended sources, including OH airglow, the zodiacal light, and the central galaxy region.[7]
HIREGS	1991–98	High-resolution spectrometer for examining gamma ray and hard X-ray emissions from solar flares and galactic sources. It used an array of liquid nitrogen-cooled germanium detectors.[8]
BOOMERanG experiment	1997–2003	Microwave telescope with cryogenic detectors that was carried on long-duration flights over the antarctic. It was used to map the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR).[3]
MAXIMA	1998–99	Microwave telescope with a cryogenic receiver that was used to measure the CMBR.[4]
HERO	2001–10	Hard X-ray telescope that flew successfully beginning in 2001 but crashed in 2010, destroying the telescope.[9]
BLAST	2003–	Submillimetre telescope with a 2 m aperture. It was destroyed during the third flight, but was rebuilt and completed a fourth flight in 2010.[10]
InFOCμS	2004–	Hard X-ray telescope with a 49 cm2 collecting area.[11]
HEFT	2005	Hard X-ray telescope that uses grazing-incidence optics.[12]
Sunrise	2009–	1 m ultraviolet telescope with image stabilization and adaptive optics for observing the Sun.[13]
PoGOLite	2011–	Telescope for polarised hard X-rays and soft gamma-rays.[14]
Spider	2015–	Submillimeter telescope searching for primordial gravitational waves.[15]
SuperBIT	2015–	Near-IR to Near-UV, wide-field, optically diffraction-limited telescope mapping out dark matter distribution in galaxy clusters through weak lensing.[16]

Future missions

NASA’s ASTHROS balloon observatory

NASA is planning to launch the largest ever balloon observatory on December 1, 2024 with a 400 foot balloon and 2.5 metre far-infrared telescope.^[17] ASTHROS (Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter-wavelengths) will launch from the Antarctic and is envisioned to last for four weeks. Its primary mirror consists of nine panels and is 8.2-foot (2.5-meter) in diameter. Optics is produced by Italian manufacturer Media Lario. The balloon may reach an altitude of 130,000 feet (40 kilometers).^[18]

When fully inflated, the 40-million-cubic-feet helium balloon will be about 400 feet (150 meters) wide. The current best estimate for the weight of the observatory, including the gondola, solar panels, antenna, scientific instrument and communication systems, is about 5,500 pounds (2,500 kilograms). The telescope's detectors must be cooled down to 4 Kelvin using a cryocooler powered by electricity from its solar panels. One of ASTHROS' main science goals is to provide new information about stellar feedback in the Milky Way and other galaxies, a process in which stars either accelerate or decelerate the formation of new stars in their galaxy. ASTHROS will be the first mission to conduct high spectral resolution spectrometry in a few specific wavelengths of light, and identify two specific nitrogen ions that are formed by the processes that drive stellar feedback. As a target of opportunity, ASTHROS will observe TW Hydrae.^[19]

See also

• Balloon satellite