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BETTII outside in August 2016

Peering into the Dusty Corners of the Universe with BETTII

  • By Sara Mitchell
  • June 8, 2017
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Sara’s note: We’re excited to tell you about one of the Goddard-built balloon-borne astrophysics missions launching this week! This is a guest post (and photos) from Dr. Stephen Rinehart. The Balloon Experimental Twin Telescope for Infrared Interferometry (BETTII) is a 8-meter long far-infrared interferometer designed to fly on a high … Continue Reading →


Go, Super-TIGER, go!

Super-TIGER team members in Antarctica: John E Ward (WUSTL), Ryan Murphy (WUSTL), Thomas Hams (GSFC), Sean Fitzsimmons (GSFC) Credit: NASA/WUSTL We’ve talked about NASA’s scientific balloon projects in the past, even featuring them in a two-part podcast series about balloon-borne science in Antarctica and what it’s like to live and … Continue Reading →


What's This

What’s This? #3 – The big reveal!

  • By Sara Mitchell
  • January 3, 2012
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Our last post of 2011 was another in our What’s This? series – we posted a mysterious image (or three, this time) and asked for people to guess what they were looking at. Our first two challenges were reasonably easy, and I think our hints helped a lot of readers … Continue Reading →


Podcast: Science at the End of the Earth, Part I

Podcast: Science at the End of the Earth, Part I

  • By Sara Mitchell
  • December 31, 2009
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Click to listen! (7MB MP3, right-click to save) Transcript (Text, PDF) Hunting for antimatter requires a serious expedition.  Scientists aren’t looking for run-of-the-mill particles – they’re collecting cosmic radiation that could be the signature of primordial black holes or other forms of dark matter.  With instruments suspended from enormous scientific … Continue Reading →


Podcast: Confounding Cosmic Questions

Why?

Today’s episode focuses on a surprising result found by a NASA balloon-borne experiment. We chose this story because it highlights the excitement and uncertainty in any scientific experiment – you never know what you’ll find. Will your data support your predictions, contradict them, or point you in an entirely new … Continue Reading →


Podcast: Confounding Cosmic Questions

Podcast: Confounding Cosmic Questions

  • By Sara Mitchell
  • January 29, 2009
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Click to listen! (7MB MP3, right-click to save) Transcript (Text, PDF) This episode features a strange signal from deep space, which could be a plot straight out of a Hollywood film. But this radio signal was detected by a NASA mission called ARCADE, which flew above the atmosphere suspected from a balloon … Continue Reading →


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