This balloon telescope sails above Earth to capture Hubble-like images - SlashGear

The Royal Astronomical Society has introduced SuperBIT, a new balloon-based telescope that, it says, will fly to the verge edge of Earth’s atmosphere to capture high-quality space images.

According to the RAS, the balloon is around the size of a football stadium, making it capable of lifting the telescope high enough to capture high-resolution images of space.

The benefits of placing a telescope outside of (or very nearly outside of) Earth’s atmosphere include being able to capture space images that haven’t been distorted by Earth’s atmosphere — something Hubble currently does and the James Webb Telescope will soon join.