Balloon TIGER

Explanation: Where does a two-ton tiger hang out? Well, in this case the Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder ( TIGER ) experiment hangs from a mobile crane on the far left in this panorama photo recorded last December near McMurdo Station, Antarctica . The helium-filled balloon which carried TIGER aloft for a record setting 31+ days is stretched out far to the right (scroll right) against the background of majestic Mt. Erebus , the southernmost active volcano in the world. While cruising with its two-ton payload above 100,000 feet, the scientific balloon's fully inflated internal volume was roughly the same as the Louisiana Superdome , but its walls were as thin as shrinkwrap. TIGER was designed to detect the unexplained galactic cosmic rays -- atomic nuclei moving at near light-speed which impinge on the Earth from outside our Solar System. By making the first sensitive measurements of cosmic rays with atomic numbers between 26 ( Iron ) and 40 ( Zirconium ), TIGER investigators will seek to identify the type of astrophysical environments which could be sources of the galactic cosmic-ray material and possible ways in which the nuclei are accelerated to such high speeds.