Meet NASA SOFIA aircraft

In summary: I'm not even mad. It's amazing how creative and meaningful they can make these acronyms.In summary, a user named Dave shares his experience of visiting New Zealand and spotting the NASA SOFIA aircraft at Christchurch City Airport. He informs that SOFIA is a flying observatory that replaced the Kuiper Airborne Observatory and has various instruments on board for infrared and optical astronomy. He also shares his visit to telescopes atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii and the news of SOFIA being potentially mothballed due to NASA budget cuts. Other users in the conversation express their excitement and knowledge about SOFIA and NASA's ability to come up with creative acronyms.
  • #1
davenn
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hi all

just got back from a trip to New Zealand.
Whilst at Christchurch City Airport, I was pleased to snap a few pics of the NASA SOFIA
( Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy ) aircraft that is down in this part of the world to do southern hemisphere astronomy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_Observatory_for_Infrared_Astronomy

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For those of you that haven't met SOFIA before, it is the flying observatory that replaced the Kuiper Airborne Observatory ( 1974 - 1995) Which also regularly flew missions out of Christchurch, NZ. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_Airborne_Observatory
Myself and several other local amateur astronomers were lucky enough to score a flight in the late '80's

cheers
Dave
 

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  • #2
Awesome! I had no idea they did this! What a cool idea! What kind of instruments are on board?
 
  • #3
Hey Greg

yes its pretty awesome..
for the SOFIA observatory ( from Wiki)...
The Telescope

SOFIA uses a 2.5-meter reflector telescope, which has an oversized, 2.7 meter diameter primary mirror, as is common with most large infrared telescopes.[2] The optical system uses a Cassegrain reflector design with a parabolic primary mirror and a remotely configurable hyperbolic secondary. In order to fit the telescope into the fuselage, the primary is shaped to an f-number as low as 1.3, while the resulting optical layout has an f-number of 19.7. A flat, tertiary, dichroic mirror is used to deflect the infrared part of the beam to the Nasmyth focus where it can be analyzed. An optical mirror located behind the tertiary mirror is used for a camera guidance system.[1]

The telescope looks out of a large door in the side of the fuselage near the airplane's tail, and will initially carry nine instruments for infrared astronomy at wavelengths from 1–655 micrometres and high-speed optical astronomy at wavelengths from 0.3–1.1 micrometres. The main instruments are the FLITECAM, a near infrared camera covering 1–5 micrometres; FORCAST, covering the mid-infrared range of 5–40 micrometres, and HAWC, which spans the far infrared in the range 42–210 micrometres. The other four instruments include an optical photometer and infrared spectrometers with various spectral ranges.[3] SOFIA’s telescope is by far the largest ever to be placed in an aircraft. For each mission one interchangeable science instrument will be attached to the telescope. Two groups of general purpose instruments are available. In addition an investigator can also design and build a special purpose instrument. On April 17, 2012, two upgrades to HAWC were selected by NASA to increase the field of view with new detector arrays and to add the capability of measuring the polarization of dust emission from celestial sources.[4]


When flying at > 30,000 ft the observatory is above better than 95% of the atmospheric moisture allowing for excellent Infrared astronomy observations.

In 1999, I visited the telescopes atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. ( another cool place to visit if you ever get the chance). Here is a pic I took of the dome of the NASA IR telescope building. Couldnt get access to that one. The twin Keck telescope guys were much more friendly haha.

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At almost 14,000 ft, atop Mauna Kea, IR astronomy was very good but the SOFIA observatory well exceeds those observing abilities.

cheers
Dave
 

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  • #4
It was back in July 2013 when I posted this thread with a pic of SOFIA whilst it and I were visiting Christchurch International Airport, in New Zealand.
Here we are ~ 8 months later and I have just learned of some sad news for the astronomical community.
Because of NASA budget cuts for the 2014 - 15 financial year, it is most likely that the SOFIA aircraft will be mothballed after 30 Sept 2014 ( financial year end) unless additional funding can be found from interested sources outside of NASA.

fingers crossed that some rich scientific organisations will step up :smile:

cheers
Dave
 
  • #5
Ooohh...sweet!
 
  • #6
I remembering watching a documentary where they've flown on board this plane. It actually is in INFRARED observatory, and when it is in the air it has to be cryo cooled so the telescope won't see itself
 
  • #7
It actually is in INFRARED observatory

Yes, we know that ... that's what the "I" in SOFIA stands for :wink:

Dave
 
  • #8
davenn said:
Yes, we know that ... that's what the "I" in SOFIA stands for :wink:

Dave

I didn't know SOFIA stood for something. ^^ I thought they just chose a cute name or something.

Anyways you americans are pro at coming up with good acronyms. There is the Messenger spacecraft that was launched to study Mercury. In the greek/roman mythology, Mercury was the messenger, that's why people at NASA chose that name for the probe. As if that name wasn't enough, they managed to make Messenger stand for something. Go figure
 
  • #9
I didn't know SOFIA stood for something. ^^ I thought they just chose a cute name or something.

read the very first post in the thread :wink:

and OHH, I am NOT American :smile:

Dave
 
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  • #10
Cosmobrain said:
I didn't know SOFIA stood for something. ^^ I thought they just chose a cute name or something.

Anyways you americans are pro at coming up with good acronyms. There is the Messenger spacecraft that was launched to study Mercury. In the greek/roman mythology, Mercury was the messenger, that's why people at NASA chose that name for the probe. As if that name wasn't enough, they managed to make Messenger stand for something. Go figure

NASA is very, very good at coming up with acronyms.
 
  • #11
jhae2.718 said:
NASA is very, very good at coming up with acronyms.

Yes, I figured
 

What is NASA SOFIA aircraft?

NASA SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) is a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that carries a 2.5-meter telescope to conduct infrared astronomy observations at altitudes of up to 45,000 feet.

What makes SOFIA different from other telescopes?

SOFIA is unique because it can fly above the majority of Earth's water vapor, which can interfere with infrared observations, allowing for clearer and more detailed images of celestial objects.

What type of research is conducted on SOFIA?

SOFIA is used for a variety of astronomical research, including studying the formation of stars and planets, observing black holes and galaxies, and investigating the composition and evolution of our solar system.

How does SOFIA compare to space-based telescopes?

SOFIA's ability to be reconfigured with different instruments and its lower cost compared to space-based telescopes make it a valuable tool for studying the universe. However, it is limited in its observation time and capabilities compared to space-based telescopes.

Who can use SOFIA for their research?

SOFIA is a highly sought-after resource for astronomers and researchers around the world. Proposals for observing time on SOFIA are accepted from anyone, including scientists, students, and educators, as long as they have a well-defined research project that can benefit from SOFIA's unique capabilities.

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