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SOFIA--The Next Generation Airborne Observatory

SOFIA--The Next Generation Airborne Observatory. • 2.5-meter (100-inch) telescope in a Boeing 747SP • Based at NASA-Dryden’s Aircraft Ops Facility in Palmdale, with Science Center at NASA-Ames • 120+ 8-hour research flights per year; 20 year lifetime

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SOFIA--The Next Generation Airborne Observatory

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  1. SOFIA--The Next GenerationAirborne Observatory • 2.5-meter (100-inch) telescope in a Boeing 747SP • Based at NASA-Dryden’s Aircraft Ops Facility in Palmdale, with Science Center at NASA-Ames • 120+ 8-hour research flights per year; 20 year lifetime • 20% share with the German space agency DLR • The world’s largest portable telescope! • Useful for both visible and infrared research• 1+ month per year in southern hemisphere• First test flights in 2007, first science flights in 2010

  2. SOFIA — The Observatory open cavity (door not shown) Educator work stations pressure bulkhead Scientist work stations, telescope and instrument control, etc. TELESCOPE scientific instrument (1 of 7)

  3. Ready for First Light

  4. “Line Ops” (ground tests)

  5. First 100%-Open Door Test FlightDecember 2009

  6. “First Light” flight plan, May 25/26, 2010 7 SOFIA Observatory Flight Readiness Review 5/17/10

  7. Southern hemisphere deployment --flight plan to study the Galactic Center

  8. Dwarf planet Pluto (V ~ 14) occulted a star (V ~ 14.4). SOFIA mettheshadow of Pluto in mid-Pacific. => HIPO (Lowell Obs.) and FDC (DSI) instruments observed the occultation simultaneously. SOFIA observations of a stellar occultation by Pluto on July 23, 2011 Image sequence from the Fast Diagnostic Camera (FDC) FDC Pluto (circled) is 13 arcsec from the star 200 minutes before the occultation Just before occultation: Pluto and star merged, combined light During occultation: Pluto and star merged, only Pluto light seen After occultation: Pluto and star merged, combined light

  9. SOFIA Science Center home page http://www.sofia.usra.edu Further information:

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