A View from the Edge of Space (IMAGE)
Caption
A view from the edge of space, the High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun (HEROES) telescope is a hard X-ray telescope, sensitive in the 20-75 keV range and designed to fly on a high-altitude balloon platform. The HEROES telescope is one example of a balloon payload designed to fly at this altitude. This payload launched from Fort Sumner, NM, in the Fall of 2013, and the flight lasted for 27 hours. At its maximum altitude of just over 39 km, the telescope pointed at the Sun, the black hole candidate GRS 1915+105, and the Crab Nebula, with the capability to carry out high resolution imaging and spectroscopy. The HEROES Project is a collaboration between NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and Goddard Space Flight Center and was funded through the NASA Hands On Project Experience Training Opportunity.
Credit
R. Salter, Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility
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