Early Science with SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
Abstract
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is an airborne observatory consisting of a specially modified Boeing 747SP with a 2.7-m telescope, flying at altitudes as high as 13.7 km (45,000 ft). Designed to observe at wavelengths from 0.3 micron to 1.6 mm, SOFIA operates above 99.8 % of the water vapor that obscures much of the infrared and submillimeter. SOFIA has seven science instruments under development, including an occultation photometer, near-, mid-, and far-infrared cameras, infrared spectrometers, and heterodyne receivers. SOFIA, a joint project between NASA and the German Aerospace Center DLR, began initial science flights in 2010 December, and has conducted 30 science flights in the subsequent year. During this early science period three instruments have flown: the mid-infrared camera FORCAST, the heterodyne spectrometer GREAT, and the occultation photometer HIPO. This article provides an overview of the observatory and its early performance.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1205.0791,
title = {Early Science with SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy},
author = {E. T. Young and E. E. Becklin and P. M. Marcum and T. L. Roellig and J. M. De Buizer and T. L. Herter and R. Güsten and E. W. Dunham and P. Temi and B. -G. Andersson and D. Backman and M. Burgdorf and L. J. Caroff and S. C. Casey and J. A. Davidson and E. F. Erickson and R. D. Gehrz and D. A. Harper and P. M. Harvey and L. A. Helton and S. D. Horner and C. D. Howard and R. Klein and A. Krabbe and I. S. McLean and A. W. Meyer and J. W. Miles and M. R. Morris and W. T. Reach and J. Rho and M. J. Richter and H. -P. Roeser and G. Sandell and R. Sankrit and M. L. Savage and E. C. Smith and R. Y. Shuping and W. D. Vacca and J. E. Vaillancourt and J. Wolf and H. Zinnecker},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1205.0791},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
7 pages, 4 figures; Accepted for publication by the Astrophysical Journal Letters