Early Science Results from SOFIA, the World's Largest Airborne Observatory

TL;DR

SOFIA, the world's largest airborne observatory, has enabled new infrared astronomy observations by flying above most atmospheric water vapor, leading to significant early scientific discoveries across various celestial objects.

Contribution

This paper presents early science results from SOFIA's initial flights, demonstrating its capability to observe in infrared wavelengths inaccessible from ground-based observatories.

Findings

Detection of new features in stellar nurseries

Observation of distant galaxy emissions

Insights into Solar System bodies

Abstract

The Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, is the largest flying observatory ever built,consisting of a 2.7-meter diameter telescope embedded in a modified Boeing 747-SP aircraft. SOFIA is a joint project between NASA and the German Aerospace Center Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und-Raumfahrt (DLR). By flying at altitudes up to 45000 feet, the observatory gets above 99.9 percent of the infrared-absorbing water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere. This opens up an almost uninterrupted wavelength range from 0.3-1600 microns that is in large part obscured from ground based observatories. Since its 'Initial Science Flight' in December 2010, SOFIA has flown several dozen science flights, and has observed a wide array of objects from Solar System bodies, to stellar nurseries, to distant galaxies. This paper reviews a few of the exciting new science results from these first flights which were made by three instruments: the mid-infrared camera FORCAST, the far-infrared heterodyne spectrometer GREAT, and the optical occultation photometer HIPO.