Weather Balloon Photography

[daveake]

I haven't, but some have. Actually, I loaned one of my trackers to this lot - http://www.cusf.co.uk/martlet-1/ which they used as a backup on the first stage.

Dave

[LongQ]

I read the BBC item and your blog post. Excellent work Dave. Very impressive. Have you signed up with an agent yet and started superstar training?

(I'm only half joking ... you never know what might come of it ....)

[daveake]

I flew my latest weather balloon on Saturday, and for a change it was into a mostly blue sky so I was hoping for some reasonable photos. Also, I launched at the same time and with the same size balloon/payload/fill as another "balloonist", and managed to capture some photographs of his balloon from mine. Here's are some of the better photos:


IMG_3444 by daveake, pic of the other balloon 1.3km away, and 10m diameter at that time, taken at 34.8km.


IMG_3469 by daveake, North Norfolk coast, and up to Hull and beyond


IMG_3436 by daveake, very pretty cloud

Also my blog post with links to more photos

and article in The Register

[rxtx]

Great photos, well done, just read the El Reg article

[LongQ]

Excellent Dave, simply excellent.

Good article in the Reg as well. Lester has a way with presenting a story. I recall the attempt to scale Rockall a few years back.

[daveake]

LongQ said:

Lester has a way with presenting a story.

He does indeed. That's the 3rd article he's done about my exploits, and I've enjoyed every one. By now I know what to to say to make sure he quotes it

[theboyfold]

Great photos. I think I prefer the ones without clouds. It's great seeing the coast line line that.

When does Mrs Ted fly with you?

[daveake]

theboyfold said:

When does Mrs Ted fly with you?

Depends on the weather. Also we're taking her on our hols from 6th-22nd October (RV roadtrip in California), so it'll be in the week before or the week after. Fingers crossed that the winds are kind for at least 1 day.

Dave

[LongQ]

I see there's a lad from Nottingham University getting some coverage for his photo flights on the AOL/Huffington Post news pages.

At this rate the number of balloons in the air could become so great we might never see the sun!



http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/11/adam-cu...

[daveake]

LongQ said:

I see there's a lad from Nottingham University

Yeah, he's one of the group of us doing this as a hobby in the UK. Together there are probably 40 or so flights per year, but that one has hit the media big time, probably as he's quite young. I helped recover one of his flights a few months ago when it landed not far from me.

[Upatdawn]

what would be the limits of altitude be for a tethered ballon i wondered?

[mcdjl]

Upatdawn said:

what would be the limits of altitude be for a tethered ballon i wondered?

Length of the tether?
Or the tether would need to be strong to hold its own weight, making it thicker. The balloon would then need to be bigger to lift the extra weight. So the bigger you make the balloon, the thicker and longer you can make the tether- unless you have a good supply of carbon nano-tube rope available.

[Manicminer]

Upatdawn said:

what would be the limits of altitude be for a tethered ballon i wondered?

I like this question - veering off topic quite a bit. If you could tether a small tube of strong yet light material to a ballon would the low pressure at high altitude start sucking the lower atmosphere away? If it was taken into the vacuum of space would we hoover up our entire atmosphere eventually?

[Simpo Two]

Manicminer said:

If you could tether a small tube of strong yet light material to a ballon would the low pressure at high altitude start sucking the lower atmosphere away? If it was taken into the vacuum of space would we hoover up our entire atmosphere eventually?

I think the tube would contain exactly the same density gradient as the atmosphere around it.

[Manicminer]

Mmm, good answer! Is it that pesky gravity that stops the vacuum at the top hoovering up the atmosphere below?

[daveake]

I've done another flight, this time for the BBC to be aired next spring. See http://www.daveakerman.com/?p=755

Dave

[daveake]

daveake said:

I've done another flight, this time for the BBC to be aired next spring. See http://www.daveakerman.com/?p=755

Dave

And this was aired a couple of weeks ago. You can see the clip at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01661f7

Dave

[K12beano]

daveake said:

And this was aired a couple of weeks ago. You can see the clip at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01661f7

Dave

That's really cool. Even me and Mrs Beano can understand it ( and the Raspberry Pi ) now!

[Fer]

Good luck for tomorrow, Dave.

[jonny142]

Just found this thread again ..i guess the feed is this for today ?..all the best for today Dave

http://ssdv.habhub.org/