NASA's Airborne Infrared Observatory Sees The "First Light"
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA), a joint program by NASA and the German Aerospace
Center, achieved a major milestone May 26, with its first in-flight
night observations.
"With this flight, SOFIA begins a 20-year journey that will enable a
wide variety of astronomical science observations not possible from
other Earth and space-borne observatories," said Jon Morse,
Astrophysics Division director in the Science Mission Directorate at
NASA Headquarters in Washington. "It clearly sets expectations that
SOFIA will provide us with "Great Observatory"-class astronomical
science."
The highly modified SOFIA Boeing 747SP jetliner fitted with a 100-inch
diameter reflecting telescope took off from its home base at the
Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., of NASA's Dryden
Flight Research Center. The in-flight personnel consisted of an
international crew from NASA, the Universities Space Research
Association in Columbia, Md., Cornell University and the German SOFIA
Institute (DSI) in Stuttgart. During the six-hour flight, at
altitudes up to 35,000 feet, the crew of 10 scientists, astronomers,
engineers and technicians gathered telescope performance data at
consoles in the aircraft's main cabin.
"Wind tunnel tests and supercomputer calculations made at the start of
the SOFIA program predicted we would have sharp enough images for
front-line astronomical research," said SOFIA project scientist Pam
Marcum of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "A
preliminary look at the first light data indicates we indeed
accomplished that."
The stability and precise pointing of the German-built telescope met
or exceeded the expectations of the engineers and astronomers who put
it through its paces during the flight.
"The crowning accomplishment of the night came when scientists on
board SOFIA recorded images of Jupiter," said USRA SOFIA senior
science advisor Eric Becklin. "The composite image from SOFIA shows
heat, trapped since the formation of the planet, pouring out of
Jupiter's interior through holes in its clouds."
The highly sensitive Faint Object infraRed CAmera for the SOFIA
Telescope (FORCAST) used for these initial observations was operated
in flight by its builders, a team led by Cornell's Terry Herter.
FORCAST captures in minutes images that would require many hour-long
exposures by ground-based observatories blocked from a clear infrared
view by water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere. SOFIA's operational
altitude, which is above more than 99 percent of that water vapor,
allows it to receive 80 percent or more of the infrared light
accessible to space observatories.
The SOFIA program is managed at Dryden. Ames manages the SOFIA science
and mission operations in cooperation with USRA and DSI.
For more information about SOFIA, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/sofia
For information about SOFIA's science mission, visit:
http://www.sofia.usra.edu
To see video of SOFIA in flight, visit:
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/
Source: NASA
