Atmosphere layers, especially the troposphere, hinder the astronomical observation. For more than 100 years astronomers have tried observing from balloons to avoid turbulence and extinction. New developments in cardsize computers, RF equipment and satellite navigation have democratised the access to the stratosphere. As a result of a ProAm collaboration with the Daedalus Team we have developed a low-cost multi-purpose platform with stratospheric balloons carrying up to 3 kg of scientific payload. The Daedalus Team is an amateur group that has been launching sounding probes since 2010. Since then the first two authors have provided scienti fic payloads for nighttime flights with the purpose of technology demonstration for astronomical observation. We have successfully observed meteor showers (Geminids 2012, Camelopardalis 2014, Quadrantids 2016 and Lyrids 2016) and city light pollution emission with image and video sensors covering the 400-1000nm range.

Date Published: 27 July 2016
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 9906, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VI, 99061X (27 July 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2233001

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9906:
Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VI
Helen J. Hall; Roberto Gilmozzi; Heather K. Marshall, Editor(s)