Rob Matson asked: > I continue to be amazed by the number of weather balloons that are spotted in >telescopes observing the sun and moon -- just how many of these things are >released each day?? --Rob There are at least 77 weather balloon launch sites in the US and each launches at least two balloons per day - one at 00:00 UT and one at 12:00 UT. Additional balloons may be launched for specific research purposes. Then there are the big scientific balloons, ham balloons, kiddies who let go of their balloons, "Let's land this at Roswell and watch 'em go ape" balloons ... For a map of the weather launch sites, go to the Purdue Weather Machine at http://wxp.atms.purdue.edu/ find the index and click on UPPER_AIR. You can also find the latest data from each site, giving air pressure, humidity, etc up to about 40000 feet. Anyway, there's a lot of latex launched every day. Dave, N9LTD