Not your average telescope

Billions of times brighter than the sun, supernovae have captivated scientists for centuries.

One scientist at IU is working on a project that might further illuminate the nature of supernovae and the environments in which they are created.

As a part of a collaboration involving contributors from the University of Chicago, University of Michigan, Penn State and Northern Kentucky University, particle astrophysicist James Musser of the Department of Physics has been working on the Cosmic Ray Electron Synchrotron Telescope Project for the past eight years in hopes of learning more about the particles emitted by supernovae.

A supernova is a very high-energy exploding star. Exploring the existence of such phenomena and their proximity to the Earth, the CREST project proposes to take a high-energy electron detector to the top of the Earth’s atmosphere using a stratospheric balloon.

This balloon will carry the instrument at the stratospheric level for about three weeks, collecting data on the particles it receives at such heights.

“The basic idea for CREST has been around for some time, but it was only ... recently that some of the technical capabilities that would enable the experiment came into being,” Musser said.

The instrument itself is very complex, and thus Musser works mainly with technicians and engineers at IU to build the device, in contrast to other labs at IU that employ primarily graduate or undergraduate students.

Held in the bays of Swain West, this device is made up of 1024 X-ray detectors and weighs approximately 6,000 pounds.

Musser noted the importance of precision in the preparation for the flight phase of the experiment.

“Typically, with these balloon experiments, they fly for a very small number of times, for a number of reasons,” he said. “The possibility of recovering a detector after a flight is not always assured. ... You want to make sure you have everything right.”

When the building of the device is complete and the team is certain they are ready for flight, it will be taken to Fort McMurdo in Antarctica. There, NASA staff members will launch the detector attached to a large helium balloon for its voyage around the South Pole.

This location is ideal for the experiment, as it lacks many of the obstacles posed by a balloon flight around major metropolitan areas of the United States.

Although the team working on CREST has completed a series of test flights and engineering flights over the past eight years, the flight around Antarctica will be its first data-collecting mission. This flight is scheduled to take place in winter 2011 — summer in Antarctica.

Musser expressed his excitement about the experiment as he explained what drew him to the project.

“Balloon experiments are a very fun activity, including the process of putting the large detectors together and figuring out how you’re going to recover it once the experiment is done,” he said. “You’re presented with a sort of unique set of challenges. ... We almost lost a detector in the Grand Canyon a few years ago.”