Gigantic NASA balloon flies over South America

In recent weeks, a giant balloon has flown over South America.

Although it was initially suspected that it was another spy balloon or UFO, like those seen in North America in February, it turned out to be an object launched by NASA for scientific purposes.

It is a new advanced telescope carried by a balloon the size of a soccer stadium (about 100 meters long) and flying at an altitude of 40 kilometers.

The Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) was designed to search for dark matter in space and launched on April 16 from Wānaka, New Zealand.

NASA said the balloon had completed more than two orbits around the Southern Hemisphere.

Photographer Erwin Enrique Sandoval captured a clear image of SuperBIT over Coyhaique in southern Chile on May 6.

“We could see it high in the afternoon sky,” he described on Spaceweather. “It was very large.”

IN SEARCH OF INVISIBLE MATTER

Dark matter is estimated to make up 85% of all value in the universe, but it is invisible. However, it is possible to determine where it is concentrated based on the gravity it generates.

One way to do this is to observe how a galaxy distorts and magnifies the light (due to gravity) from more distant galaxies.

This phenomenon is called gravitational lensing.

The sharper the images, the more dark matter secrets can be revealed.

For this reason, SuperBIT travels at an altitude of more than 99.2% of the Earth’s atmosphere, so almost no air obstructs the telescope’s view. It can also take images day and night.

“The SuperBIT telescope takes images of galaxies in the visible to near-ultraviolet spectrum, matching the capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope, but with a wider field of view,” NASA said.

SuperBIT can complete a full revolution or lap in one to three weeks, depending on wind conditions.

“We hope to complete many more orbits over the hemisphere in the coming weeks,” said Debora Fairbrother, director of NASA’s Office of the Science Balloon Program.

News South America, English news South America, Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT), NASA