Scientific balloon set to measure gamma rays from the Crab Pulsar
Wednesday, September 10, 2014 - 13:50
in Astronomy & Space
Starting today at NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, space scientists from the University of New Hampshire will attempt to launch a football-field-sized balloon carrying a one-ton instrument payload that will measure gamma rays from the Crab Pulsar - the remains of a 1054 A.D. supernova explosion 6,500 light years from Earth. The measurements, taken 130,000 feet above Earth, could eventually provide a window into the universal, poorly understood process of particle acceleration.