NASA telescope aboard giant balloon set for take off

New York, Sep 15: A giant balloon fitted with a new

telescope to spot black holes is set to take off this month.

Scientists at the Washington University in St Louis and NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Texas will launch the balloon, inflated with high pressure helium, that will carry the X-Calibur telescope high into the atmosphere.

The balloon will rise nearly 120,000 feet above the earth, media reports said.

X-Calibur will search for black holes and clues about how they fit Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

"It would focus on various celestial objects including black holes visible from the northern Hemisphere," said Henric Krawczynski, a professor of physics at the Washington University.

X-Calibur will spot the black holes by looking for X-rays emitted by matter just before it disappears inside the black hole.

IANS