'First Light' for NASA's Airborne Infrared Observatory01/06/2010 |
| The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a joint program by NASA and the German Aerospace Centre, achieved a major milestone 26thMay, with its first in-flight night observations. 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, CA (USA), of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. 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. |
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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. 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.
Website: http://www.nasa.gov/sofia Supplier: NASA More news from this supplier: Interferometry Study of Hawaiian Volcano Drought Monitoring Using Gravity Achievements In Earth Remote Sensing Recognised Improved Global Topographic Map NASA Polar Observation Satellite Gearing Up for Launch NASA Flights to View Air Pollution Geophysics, Geodynamics and Space Support Mapping Tropical Forest Carbon Storage Mississippi Memphis Flooding from Space Tornado Tracks Seen from Space GMES Initial Operations (GIO) Land Monitoring Services Rugged Trimble Juno Series Olympic Planning Rerouting During Olympic Congestions Dutch Minister to Open Geospatial World Forum 2012 TatukGIS Developer Kernel 10 Upgrade Netcad Asia Convention Community Heritage Project Using GIS Visualisation Teaching Award for Russell G. Congalton ION Autonomous Snowplough Competition Winners GeoCore 2012 with Lidar API 
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