From NASA SOFIA: “SOFIA Observatory Peers Into Heart of Orion Nebula”

SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy)

“A new image from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) shows a complex distribution of interstellar dust and stars in the Orion nebula. Interstellar dust, composed mostly of silicon, carbon and other heavy elements that astronomers refer to generically as “metals,” plus some ice and organic molecules, is part of the raw material from which new stars and planets are forming.

The entire Orion Nebula in visible light. Credit: NASA/ESA

The two insets [below image] display mid-infrared images showing portions of the Orion nebula star-forming region, also known as Messier 42 (M42). The SOFIA images were produced by SOFIA staff scientist James De Buizer and his collaborators from data obtained in May – June 2011 during the SOFIA’s Basic Science program. The observations were made using the Faint Object Infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST) instrument, led by principal investigator Terry Herter of Cornell University. Those observations are subjects of scientific papers to be submitted to The Astrophysical Journal.

This graphical representation from the SOFIA Science Center compares two infrared images of the heart of the Orion nebula captured by the FORCAST camera on the SOFIA airborne observatory’s telescope with a wider image of the same area from the Spitzer space telescope. (SOFIA image — James De Buizer / NASA / DLR / USRA / DSI / FORCAST; Spitzer image — NASA/JPL)

The SOFIA airborne observatory incorporates a 17-ton reflecting telescope with an effective diameter of 2.5 meters (100 inches) mounted inside an extensively modified Boeing 747SP. The SOFIA aircraft flies at altitudes as high as 45,000 feet (14 km), above more than 99 percent of the water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere that blocks most infrared radiation from celestial sources.

Not too shabby!!

See the full article here.

The SOFIA is a joint program of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and is based and managed at NASA’s Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), headquartered in Columbia, Md., and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart.

Advocate for Basic Research at D.O.E. Labs and NASA After the Deficit Reduction Debacle in Washington

The recent deficit super committee debacle in Washington means possible debilitating budget cuts to your D.O.E labs and NASA missions. Please get ready to write, email, phone, your congressional representatives and senators. It’s your tax dollars, folks.

Here’s what’s at risk:

D.O.E.:

Argonne

Ames

Berkeley

Brookhaven

Fermilab

INL

Jefferson

Livermore

Los Alamos

NSCL

Oak Ridge

Pacific Northwest

Princeton Plasma Physics

Sandia

SLAC

US/LHC

The many other aspects of the D.O.E. Office of Science

NASA:

Hubble (Yes, there is still a budget for Hubble)

Fermi

Goddard

Chandra

Herschel

JPL

Kepler

SOFIA

Spitzer

Webb

WISE

All of the other missions, current and future.

Everything is at risk. The U.S. future as a leader in basic scientific research is at risk. Remember the Superconducting Super Collider? Killed off in 1993 by the dimwitted (then Democrat dominated) Congress?

The tax dollars are yours. Visit the D.O.E lab and NASA mission web sites. Look around. See if you think that these are worthy of your tax dollars.

Read back through past entries in this blog, you will see that it is not all High Energy Physics, Astronomy, and rocket science. It is also Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, Genetics, Clean and Renewable Energy, Ecology, Climate, you name it, our great labs and NASA missions are there to help make our lives better.

NASA’s SOFIA Flying Telescope

Inside, SOFIA is fitted with a 100-inch diameter airborne infrared telescope.

“NASA is developing the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy – or SOFIA - as a world-class airborne observatory that will complement the Hubble, Spitzer, Herschel and James Webb space telescopes and major Earth-based telescopes.

The mother ship with open door

SOFIA is a joint program by NASA and DLR Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Aerospace Center). Major aircraft modifications and installation of the telescope has been carried out at L-3 Communications Integrated Systems facility at Waco, Texas. Completion of systems installation, integration and flight test operations are being conducted at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., from 2007 through 2010. SOFIA’s science operations are being planned jointly by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and the Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI) under leadership of the SOFIA Science project at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field near San Jose, Calif.

Unparalleled Astronomical Science Capabilities

SOFIA’S 2.5-meter (100 inch) diameter reflecting telescope provide[s]* astronomers with access to the visible, infrared and sub-millimeter spectrum, with optimized performance in the mid-infrared to sub-millimeter range. During its 20-year expected lifetime it will be capable of “Great Observatory”–class astronomical science.

SOFIA continue[s] the legacy of prominent planetary scientist Dr. Gerard Kuiper, who began airborne astronomy in 1966 with a 12-inch telescope aimed out a window of a converted Convair 990 jetliner. His work led to the development of NASA’s Kuiper Airborne Observatory, a modified C-141 aircraft incorporating a 36-inch reflecting telescope that flew from 1974 to 1995. During its 21-year lifetime, the Kuiper Airborne Observatory focused on solar system, galactic and extra-galactic astronomy, and discovered the rings of Uranus, a ring of dust around the center of the Milky Way, luminous infrared galaxies, complex organic molecules in space and water in comets.

As the world’s largest airborne astronomical observatory, SOFIA provide[s] three times better image quality and vastly increased observational sensitivity than the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. From a base at NASA Dryden, SOFIA mission operations [are] conducted over virtually the entire globe. Missions will be flown at altitudes of 39,000 to 45,000 feet, above 99 percent of the water vapor in the lower atmosphere that restrict the capabilities of ground-based observatories over most of the infrared and sub-millimeter spectral range.

By recording infrared measurements not possible from the ground, SOFIA [is] able to observe occultations of stars by solar system objects to help determine the objects’ sizes, compositions and atmospheric structures. It help[s] answer many fundamental questions about the creation and evolution of the universe, including how stars and planets are formed, how organic materials necessary for life form and evolve, and the nature of the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Technology Development

SOFIA [is] an outstanding laboratory for developing and testing astronomical instrumentation and detector technology. Its nine first-generation cameras and spectrographs and later generation instruments will enable a wide variety of astronomical science observations not possible from other Earth- and space-borne observatories. Once validated, these instruments will be useful in future space missions and ground-based observatories. SOFIA’s ability to return to earth after each flight will enable frequent opportunities to upgrade and install new science instruments. This in turn will stimulate and enable the development of new astronomical technology throughout its lifetime.”

MESSIER 42 (The Orion Nebula)in three images from left to right, Hubble (visible), ESO (near-infrared)(platform not named) and SOFIA (mid-infrared)

See the full NASA article here.

*NASA needs to bring this description up to date. SOFIA can be seen on a night mission in the BBC video “Extreme Astronomy”.