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I spotted some sort of balloon floating directly over Perth airport just now (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/perth@aussie.zone
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On closeup it definitely seems to have some sort of payload hanging from it, and its getting knocked around by the wind quite a bit, It doesn't appear to be falling though, just drifting west

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[โ€“] 8 points 1 month ago* (3 children)

Could be a sounding balloon to measure the upper atmosphere, meteorological folk often release them.

https://www.bom.gov.au/resources/learn-and-explore/radar-and-equipment-knowledge-centre/weather-balloons

Poking around on the BoM website shows the met station at Perth airport released one around midday today.

https://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/aviation/IDS65024/IDS65024.94610.png

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  • [โ€“] [S] 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Ah that looks like it. I spotted it about 12:45 I think. I just assumed they wouldn't launch balloons at the airport or wouldn't like them flying over, what with all the planes that might suck it into their engine.

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    • [โ€“] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I recommend posting a 3 hour shaky video about it on youtube discussing which galaxy it came from and what type of aliens might be inside it.

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    • [โ€“] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Could be a skydiver, no? Hard to tell how big it is.

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  • [โ€“] [S] 1 point 1 month ago*

    I don't think it's a skydiver, it doesn't look canopy shaped, it looks balloon shaped. Also it didn't fall, it just drifted. Besides, skydivers famously try to avoid international airports

    It's hard to say how big it is, or how high. Weather balloons can be huge, and flying at 12km+ altitude it can look like a much smaller balloon flying much lower.

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    • [โ€“] 3 points 1 month ago

    Wow! Good eyes!

    Maybe a kids science experiment that drifted away?

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