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Woah

Student's high-flying weather balloon captures stunning footage from over west Kerry

The device sailed up into the Earth’s stratosphere.

Emutex Ltd. / YouTube

Click here if you’re having trouble viewing the video.

THE SCENERY OF west Kerry is some of the most stunning in Ireland.

It’s even more beautiful when viewed during a trip to the Earth’s stratosphere.

Gerard Prunty, a fourth year Computer Science student at UCC, captured this footage using a weather balloon system.

The device reached as high as 30km, recording a range of sensory data such as temperature, air pressure, atmospheric pressure, and altitude, as well as a video camera.

The device pinged back its GPS coordinates every minute from a mobile phone onboard.

Prunty designed and built himself the project after winning a Emutex Software Innovator Of The Year scholarship, and it was launched from Met Éireann’s Valentia Observatory last month.

The device completed its journey over the course of three hours. It then fell back to Earth and landed almost 200km away in a rural field near Cashel in Co Tipperary.

Watch the balloon’s trip above, or find out more about the project here.

Watch: Ever wondered what it looks like inside the Poolbeg chimneys? >

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Read: This Galway husband and wife team found a new purpose for drones – saving lives >

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