The third season for NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) started on Tuesday with the first science flight of 2015.
SOFIA is a Boeing 747 Special Performance jetliner with a telescope that has a 2.5-meter diameter. The flights are used to study the universe at infrared wavelengths, according to a press release by the SOFIA Science Center. Since water vapor in the atmosphere soaks up infrared radiation, SOFIA flies at altitudes of 39,000 to 45,000 feet - above 99 percent of the water vapor.
"Last night's flight used the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) spectrometer to study the chemical composition and motions of gas in a star-forming region, a young star, and a supernova remnant," NASA's SOFIA project scientist Pamela Marcum said in Wednesday's press release. "Observing at infrared wavelengths enables us to see through interstellar dust to record the spectral signatures of molecules in these regions. From this we can study the abundances of molecules and their formation process."
"The flights in January will conclude SOFIA's second annual observing series, known as Cycle 2, and the observatory will begin the Cycle 3 programs in March," said SOFIA's observatory director Erick Young. "Plans for Cycle 3 include 70 flights with more than 400 hours of science observations. The observations will span a broad range of astronomical topics including the interstellar medium, star formation, stars, bodies in our solar system and extrasolar planets."
