Astronomy from the Stratosphere with Balloon-borne Telescopes

Event Date:
2026-02-23T16:00:00
2026-02-23T17:00:00
Event Location:
HENN 318
Speaker:
Laura Fissel, Queen's University
Related Upcoming Events:
Astronomy Colloquia
Intended Audience:
Everyone
Local Contact:

Allison Man (aman@phas.ubc.ca) and Brett Gladman (gladman@astro.ubc.ca)

All are welcome to this event!

Event Information:

Abstract:

Stratospheric balloon telescopes offer a near space-quality platform for astrophysical research at a small fraction of the cost of an equivalent satellite telescope. Helium balloons can lift scientific payloads of up to 3500 kg to altitudes of up to 48 km above the Earth’s surface on flights ranging from a few hours to weeks. By operating above more than 99.5% of the atmosphere balloon telescopes can achieve much better sensitivity than ground-based telescopes, particularly in the far-IR, sub-mm and mm regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum.

In this talk I will discuss challenges of designing, building and operating stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes.  I will also discuss two different high frequency balloon-borne radio astronomy applications. The first is THz detections of linearly polarized thermal dust emission to trace magnetic fields in star-forming regions with the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-mm Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol).  Data from BLASTPol’s 2012 Antarctic flight have shown that magnetic fields can play an important role in shaping regions of star-formation, and have led to a re-examination of models of interstellar dust.  I will finish by discussing a Queen’s led project to demonstrate that stratospheric balloon telescopes can be used in “Earth-sized” telescopes, such as the Event Horizon Telescope, using the technique of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).  We built and launched a pathfinder 22 GHz Balloon-borne VLBI Experiment (BVEX) from Timmins, Ontario in August 2025, though the flight was hindered by a leak in the launch balloon, and we are now preparing for a second BVEX flight from Palmas, Brazil in 2027.  Future mm- and sub-mm VLBI observatories that include balloon-borne telescopes have the potential to advance our understanding of jet launching from supermassive black holes and to improve the current resolution limit in astronomy.
 

Bio:


I am an astrophysicist in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy at Queen's University.

My research focuses on understanding how stars and planets from out of interstellar gas.  I am particularly interested in studying whether the magnetic fields that thread through star-forming regions significantly slow down or halt the gravitational collapse of dense gas.

For my research I both use extremely powerful ground-based telescopes (such as the Mopra telescope in Australia, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, and the Large Millimeter Telescope in Mexico) and work with international teams of astrophysicists to build stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes.  Balloon-borne telescopes operate above 99.5% of the Earth's atmosphere, allowing us to observe colours of light that would otherwise require a much more expensive space telescope.  Our most recently constructed balloon-borne telescope, BLAST-TNG, measures polarized light from dust grains in order to construct incredibly detailed maps of magnetic fields in star-forming regions.  BLAST-TNG launched in January 2020 launching from McMurdo Station, Antarctica.  My group is also working to demonstrate that balloon telescopes can be used in global arrays of telescopes using a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).  We will be launching a pathfinder balloon telescope, the Balloon VLBI Experiment (BVEX), in 2025.

I received my PhD from the University of Toronto in 2013, where I worked with Barth Netterfield on building BLASTPol, an extremely sensitive balloon-borne sub-mm polarimeter that mapped magnetic fields in nearby star forming regions.  Since then I have worked as a CIERA/NSERC postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL and as a Jansky postdoctoral fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia.  I have been an assistant professor at Queen's University since September 2019.
 

Resources:

Add to Calendar 2026-02-23T16:00:00 2026-02-23T17:00:00 Astronomy from the Stratosphere with Balloon-borne Telescopes Event Information: Abstract: Stratospheric balloon telescopes offer a near space-quality platform for astrophysical research at a small fraction of the cost of an equivalent satellite telescope. Helium balloons can lift scientific payloads of up to 3500 kg to altitudes of up to 48 km above the Earth’s surface on flights ranging from a few hours to weeks. By operating above more than 99.5% of the atmosphere balloon telescopes can achieve much better sensitivity than ground-based telescopes, particularly in the far-IR, sub-mm and mm regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum.In this talk I will discuss challenges of designing, building and operating stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes.  I will also discuss two different high frequency balloon-borne radio astronomy applications. The first is THz detections of linearly polarized thermal dust emission to trace magnetic fields in star-forming regions with the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-mm Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol).  Data from BLASTPol’s 2012 Antarctic flight have shown that magnetic fields can play an important role in shaping regions of star-formation, and have led to a re-examination of models of interstellar dust.  I will finish by discussing a Queen’s led project to demonstrate that stratospheric balloon telescopes can be used in “Earth-sized” telescopes, such as the Event Horizon Telescope, using the technique of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).  We built and launched a pathfinder 22 GHz Balloon-borne VLBI Experiment (BVEX) from Timmins, Ontario in August 2025, though the flight was hindered by a leak in the launch balloon, and we are now preparing for a second BVEX flight from Palmas, Brazil in 2027.  Future mm- and sub-mm VLBI observatories that include balloon-borne telescopes have the potential to advance our understanding of jet launching from supermassive black holes and to improve the current resolution limit in astronomy.  Bio: I am an astrophysicist in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy at Queen's University. My research focuses on understanding how stars and planets from out of interstellar gas.  I am particularly interested in studying whether the magnetic fields that thread through star-forming regions significantly slow down or halt the gravitational collapse of dense gas. For my research I both use extremely powerful ground-based telescopes (such as the Mopra telescope in Australia, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, and the Large Millimeter Telescope in Mexico) and work with international teams of astrophysicists to build stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes.  Balloon-borne telescopes operate above 99.5% of the Earth's atmosphere, allowing us to observe colours of light that would otherwise require a much more expensive space telescope.  Our most recently constructed balloon-borne telescope, BLAST-TNG, measures polarized light from dust grains in order to construct incredibly detailed maps of magnetic fields in star-forming regions.  BLAST-TNG launched in January 2020 launching from McMurdo Station, Antarctica.  My group is also working to demonstrate that balloon telescopes can be used in global arrays of telescopes using a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI).  We will be launching a pathfinder balloon telescope, the Balloon VLBI Experiment (BVEX), in 2025. I received my PhD from the University of Toronto in 2013, where I worked with Barth Netterfield on building BLASTPol, an extremely sensitive balloon-borne sub-mm polarimeter that mapped magnetic fields in nearby star forming regions.  Since then I have worked as a CIERA/NSERC postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL and as a Jansky postdoctoral fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia.  I have been an assistant professor at Queen's University since September 2019.  Resources: See Laura's faculty webpage at Queen's University here and her Research Group webpage here Watch an introduction to Laura and her research on Youtube here Access Laura's talk: "A BLASTPol Study of Magnetic Fields in Vela C", from the conference: Star Formation, Magnetic Fields, and Diffuse Matter in the Galaxy: A Conference Honoring the Contributions of Richard Crutcher & Carl Heiles, May 23-26, 2016, Madison, WI, USA (website: http://www.astro.wisc.edu/ch16/)  Event Location: HENN 318