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> The Super Pressure Balloon-Borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) was flown to the edge of space > SuperBIT flies at an altitude of 33.5 kilometres Just no. I c

> The Super Pressure Balloon-Borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) was flown to the edge of space > SuperBIT flies at an altitude of 33.5 kilometres Just no. I could understand say, shaving a few km off to get the project into "space". Maybe ten. I get that space is a bit of a blurry boundary and somewhat arbitrary up there. But not seventy.

elbigbad 3y ago
“Edge” is doing a lot of work here, haha. In fact, a paper airplane has flown higher than this balloon!
- Tepix 3y ago
  Only after it was dropped from an even higher altitude. You could also do it with a rock.
- kitd 3y ago
  I too did a quick return to "Space Elevator"! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35629972 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35629972
zeckalpha 3y ago
For others, the definition is generally https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_line https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_line
stametseater 3y ago
"Edge of space" is a pretty loosey-goosey expression. For instance: "What it takes to fly spy plane U-2 to the edge of space" https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140224-flying-at-the-edge-of-space https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140224-flying-at-the-ed... (The U-2 flies at something around 21 to 25 kilometers, depending on what source you go by.)
- wongarsu 3y ago
  Interesting. Apparently some people consider the Armstrong Line [1] (where pressure is low enough that water boils at body temperature, at about 18km) to be the start of "near space". As opposed to "outer space" which starts at the Kármán line at 100km (unless you are in the US, where outer space starts at 50miles/80km instead) 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_limit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_limit
  - jackmott42 3y ago
    It is a normal human thing to make categories when nature is like "nah we got a continuous spectrum here y'all" and then humans argue about the categories forever. Mammals, animals that give birth to live young, have fur. Monotremes say wat!!?
    - DoreenMichele 3y ago
      TIL: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotreme https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotreme
pixl97 3y ago
Something like 99.6% of the atmosphere is below you at 100,000 feet. This is what matters, not the fact you're in space, but the fact you're not looking through a hot(ish) dense gas filled with moisture.
- Aperocky 3y ago
  That's still equivalent to an martian atmosphere above.
  - bee_rider 3y ago
    That is an interesting note, but I’m not sure how much intuition it adds. Mars somewhat famously have not a ton of atmosphere, right?
  - chongli 3y ago
    Still good enough to take some great infrared pictures. Sure, it’s not even close to the same league as JWST, but most astronomers on the planet are jumping over each other to submit proposals for observation on that.
  - Tepix 3y ago
    Yes, both are very thin indeed, Mars has 6-10 millibars vs 1013 millibars at Earth sea level.
  - sandworm101 3y ago
    Except thay the mars atmosphere contains considerable amoints of dust and weather. Earth's atmosphere at these altitudes is bone dry and homogeneous. Presssures may be similar but the optical properties are totally different.
jacquesm 3y ago
Who cares, given that for a telescope what matters is the fraction of the atmosphere below it and that it is viewing things that are for all practical purposes at infinity it might as well be in space, the images wouldn't be any different unless the angle was very oblique, and even then the difference between being on the ground and being truly in space would be rather smaller for the second.

elbigbad 3y ago

“Edge” is doing a lot of work here, haha. In fact, a paper airplane has flown higher than this balloon!

Tepix 3y ago
Only after it was dropped from an even higher altitude. You could also do it with a rock.
kitd 3y ago
I too did a quick return to "Space Elevator"! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35629972 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35629972

zeckalpha 3y ago

For others, the definition is generally https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_line https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_line

stametseater 3y ago

"Edge of space" is a pretty loosey-goosey expression. For instance: "What it takes to fly spy plane U-2 to the edge of space" https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140224-flying-at-the-edge-of-space https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140224-flying-at-the-ed... (The U-2 flies at something around 21 to 25 kilometers, depending on what source you go by.)

wongarsu 3y ago
Interesting. Apparently some people consider the Armstrong Line [1] (where pressure is low enough that water boils at body temperature, at about 18km) to be the start of "near space". As opposed to "outer space" which starts at the Kármán line at 100km (unless you are in the US, where outer space starts at 50miles/80km instead) 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_limit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_limit
- jackmott42 3y ago
  It is a normal human thing to make categories when nature is like "nah we got a continuous spectrum here y'all" and then humans argue about the categories forever. Mammals, animals that give birth to live young, have fur. Monotremes say wat!!?
  - DoreenMichele 3y ago
    TIL: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotreme https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotreme

pixl97 3y ago

Something like 99.6% of the atmosphere is below you at 100,000 feet. This is what matters, not the fact you're in space, but the fact you're not looking through a hot(ish) dense gas filled with moisture.

Aperocky 3y ago
That's still equivalent to an martian atmosphere above.
- bee_rider 3y ago
  That is an interesting note, but I’m not sure how much intuition it adds. Mars somewhat famously have not a ton of atmosphere, right?
- chongli 3y ago
  Still good enough to take some great infrared pictures. Sure, it’s not even close to the same league as JWST, but most astronomers on the planet are jumping over each other to submit proposals for observation on that.
- Tepix 3y ago
  Yes, both are very thin indeed, Mars has 6-10 millibars vs 1013 millibars at Earth sea level.
- sandworm101 3y ago
  Except thay the mars atmosphere contains considerable amoints of dust and weather. Earth's atmosphere at these altitudes is bone dry and homogeneous. Presssures may be similar but the optical properties are totally different.

jacquesm 3y ago

Who cares, given that for a telescope what matters is the fraction of the atmosphere below it and that it is viewing things that are for all practical purposes at infinity it might as well be in space, the images wouldn't be any different unless the angle was very oblique, and even then the difference between being on the ground and being truly in space would be rather smaller for the second.