Real Science

This is real science:

Teens send balloon into space, get aerial photos of Earth

Teen scientists at IES La Bisbal school in Catalonia sent a latex balloon 20 miles into the sky, to the edge of space, and took stunning photos of the Earth with it, using a cheap digital camera:

Building the electronic sensor components from scratch, Gerard Marull Paretas, Sergi Saballs Vila, Marta­ Gasull Morcillo and Jaume Puigmiquel Casamort managed to send their heavy duty £43 latex balloon to the edge of space and take readings of its ascent.

Created by the four students under the guidance of teacher Jordi Fanals Oriol, the budding scientists, all aged 18-19, followed the progress of their balloon using high tech sensors communicating with Google Earth.

Team leader Gerard Marull, 18, said: "We were overwhelmed at our results, especially the photographs, to send our handmade craft to the edge of space is incredible."

Teens capture images of space with £56 camera and balloon

And some damn, good images, too