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Earth from Space

Amazing weather balloon flight to the Stratosphere

An amazing video showing a weather Balloon flight to the Stratosphere. Cameras were installed in a box attached to a weather balloon to get high-altitude images of the Earth. Published by the J. W. Astronomy channel.

This video shows a weather Balloon flight to the Stratosphere. Cameras were installed in a box attached to a weather balloon to get high-altitude images of the Earth.

The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth’s atmosphere, just above the troposphere (where life and almost all weather conditions take place), and below the mesosphere.

Near the equator, the stratosphere starts at as high as 20 km (66,000 feet; 12 mi), around 10 km (33,000 feet; 6.2 mi) at midlatitudes, and at about 7 km (23,000 feet; 4.3 mi) at the poles.

If you are interested in amateur astronomy, I strongly recommend that you follow Julian Weßel’s J. W. Astronomy channel on YouTube.

Julian Weßel is an astrophotographer living in Gladbeck, Germany.

“At the age of 18 I purchased my first Newtonian telescope and the views through it made me feel addicted to astronomy and it became a big part of my life.”

“After that, I decided to share this experience and started capturing what I saw with my DSLR. Obviously, it worked out and every day there are new Astro enthusiastic people who share this excitement with me.”

“And I hope you will follow on my journey, too!”

How to build your own weather balloon spacecraft

There’s also an amazing guide of how to take Earth photos using a weather balloon: “How to build your own weather balloon spacecraft” on lifelisted.com.

Earth from a weather balloon
Weßel wrote on Reddit that: “I was a member of a team that sent 4 balloons to 20-30 km. (they sent more since then, but I left them). What we did (in Poland) is coordinate with the “FAA” that coordinated with ATC. We had a launch window, and had to call them after launching. You retrieve it by simply following the balloon and picking it up. We had 2 different trackers in the balloon, but there was a flight or two where they both failed (I don’t know why we had such problems with the trackers). You find out wherever it landed, and go pick it up. One time we had to go to another country, that was fun.”

Sources

M. Özgür Nevres
Latest posts by M. Özgür Nevres (see all)
Özgür Nevres

By M. Özgür Nevres

I am a software developer and a science enthusiast. I was graduated from the Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Computer Engineering. In the past, I worked at the Istanbul Technical University Science Center as a science instructor. I write about the planet Earth and science on this website, ourplnt.com. I am also an animal lover! I take care of stray cats & dogs. This website's all income goes directly to our furry friends. Please consider supporting me on Patreon, so I can help more animals!

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