# Awesome space-pictures of planet Earth on the cheap!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awesome-space-pictures-of-planet-earth-on-the-cheap/533804>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 25, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awesome-space-pictures-of-planet-earth-on-the-cheap/533804 "2010-03-25T21:49:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pretend_my_name_is_witty)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awesome-space-pictures-of-planet-earth-on-the-cheap/533804/1 "2010-03-25T21:49:52Z")

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[This](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/8587749.stm) Yorkshire-based toolshed astronomer has taken some incredible images of Earth from space using a standard digital camera and a helium balloon!

Check 'em out, and bear in mind the whole cost was ~£500, apparently. Makes me think I might do the same one weekend!

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**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awesome-space-pictures-of-planet-earth-on-the-cheap/533804/2 "2010-03-25T22:29:30Z")

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Some MIT students did the same thing on a budget of only $150, but they didn’t get quite as high as this latest guy.

> **[The $150 Edge-of-Space Camera: MIT Students Beat NASA On Beer-Money Budget](https://www.wired.com/2009/09/the-150-space-camera-mit-students-beat-nasa-on-beer-money-budget/)**
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> Meet the $150 (almost to) Space Camera. Bespoke is old hat. Off-the-shelf is in. Even Google runs the world’s biggest and scariest server farms on computers home-made from commodity parts. DIY is cheaper and often better, as Justin Lee and Oliver Yeh...

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awesome-space-pictures-of-planet-earth-on-the-cheap/533804/3 "2010-03-26T00:03:27Z")

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Nice vid.