A university in Oregon will use balloons to track eclipse

Portland State University in Oregon will launch four high-altitude balloons equipped with GPS tracking systems and 360-degree video cameras during the upcoming solar eclipse.

The university said Wednesday that the balloons will allow anyone to watch a live stream online as the moon's shadow darkens a large swath of Oregon on Aug. 21.

One balloon will be a part of a larger live streaming project funded by NASA that involves 55 college and school teams throughout the U.S.

Three others are part of a PSU project.

The first will reach 70,000 in the air, the second will reach 100,000 feet and the third will go to 130,000 feet.

For comparison, the school says a typical airliner reaches a cruising altitude of 39,000 feet.

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Citation: A university in Oregon will use balloons to track eclipse (2017, July 12) retrieved 26 June 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2017-07-university-oregon-balloons-track-eclipse.html
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