Spotted high altitude balloon this evening

[ThoughtCriminal]

Near Payson, AZ
Just after sunset I saw a bright object in the eastern sky. Knew it was in the wrong place and too large to be Venus. I suspected it was a balloon, since I remember seeing a couple of them before.

Fortunately, I had 8x binoculars in my vehicle, so I could see it quite clearly - definitely high altitude balloon with some sort of instrument panel.

I rushed home to set up my camera (which also has an 8x optical zoom). Set up tripod as the object started to fade to orange and... the batteries were dead. :freak: Rushed inside for fresh batteries... Wait... which way do these go in... OK 50/50 guess - to dark to read ... wrong ... try again... Balloon no longer visible. Arrrrrgggg!!!

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

OK, antbody know of a site that might help identify where the thing was launched and what the instrument package was carrying?

[DarkTirade]

1. You sure it wasn't a UFO and some swamp gas?

[havocmom]

6. They have had some rain in AZ, but it seems unlikely they have swamp gas

:rofl:

Those balloons are really high up for swamp farts too. I've seen them when I lived in AZ. It was always reported that they were sent up out of New Mexico whenever we saw them and looked into them. They are WAY up there by the time any zonies see them. Real pretty though.

[qdemn7]

2. Here?

http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/ARHABlaunchannouncements.htm

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. Interesting, but I do not think it was one of those

I think it was too large to be one of the Amateur Radio balloons (hard to judge that without knowing altitude), and none of them seemed to be in this area.

My guess would be a NASA or university research balloon, but I have not found any news or press releases that would identify it so far.

[lost-in-nj]

4. Maybe a weather balloon??

Do they still send them up????

just a thought


lost

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. Probably not

Although they do still use weather balloons, Waht I saw looked more like this one:


rather than this:


Many years ago, I watched the launch of a high altitude balloon with an astronomical research payload. It was very similar to what I saw last night.

[havocmom]

7. Have seen those BIG tear-drop shaped balloons too.

Not often, so they tend to stick in your mind. Elongated and sorta silvery in the evening sunlight at the altitude they get to.

Look east for point of origin. When I saw them, it was always reported that they came from New Mexico. I would guess Los Alamos? Maybe the Very Large Array?