Vela pulsar

A scientific balloon has been launched from the Australian Balloon Launching Station to evaluate high-energy gamma rays being emitted by the Vela Pulsar neutron star.

Planned to travel from Alice Springs to Queensland, the research balloon is carrying 800kg equipment on-board.

Vela Pulsar is a collapsed star located 1,000 light years away from Earth, and makes around 11 rotations a second.

As the pulsar spins, it emits charged particles that race out along its rotation axis at around 70% of the speed of light, Nasa said.

"It is a designed to measure gamma rays, high-energy gamma rays, coming from very exotic objects in our galaxy."

Australian Balloon Launching Station director Dr Ravi Sood was quoted by ABC as saying: "This experiment is trying to measure energies and arrival time of the gamma rays.

"It is a designed to measure gamma rays, high-energy gamma rays, coming from very exotic objects in our galaxy."

The project is collaboration between Nagoya University and Kobe University in Japan. The balloon launch from Alice Springs comes after a Nasa-sponsored balloon crashed on take-off in 2010.

The balloon will reach Longreach in Queensland by today evening, and will be transported to Sydney for analysis.

Sood added: "This is the first flight in four years, but next year, there may be a campaign involving the French space agency."

Image: The Vela Pulsar makes more than 11 rotations a second. Photo: courtesy of Nasa / CXC / Univ of Toronto / M.Durant et al / DSS / Davide De Martin.