14 DAY TRIAL // This week saw the first science flight being performed with the airborne SOFIA telescope, which is an infrared observatory mounted at the back of a heavily modified airplane. Researchers are currently browsing through the data to derive new knowledge on the targeted objects.
During the inaugural flight, SOFIA kept an eye on a distant stellar nursery called Sharpless 140, which was scanned in great detail using one of the telescope's infrared detectors.
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy is mounted in the aft section of a modified Boeing 747 airliner, and is the product of a collaboration between NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
The data it collected using the Faint Object InfraRed Camera (FORECAST) are being analyzed by two researchers, including a faculty member at the University of Colorado in Boulder (UCB).
Paul Harvey, who holds an appointment as a senior researcher associate at the UCB Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, is one of the experts in charge of processing SOFIA data.
He explains that one of the main advantages the new observatory has over others is its versatility and cost. The airplane can rise to altitudes that put it above some 99 percent of water vapors in the planet's atmosphere.
This is very important because vapors tend to absorb the IR wavelengths that SOFIA operates. Though expensive in itself, building an airborne observatory is a lot cheaper than designing a space-based telescope with the same capabilities.
The Boeing 747 used for the science sorties can reach altitudes of up to 40,000-45,000 feet (12,200 to 13,700 meters), and can fly virtually anywhere on the globe. It's main instrument is a 2.5-meter reflecting telescope.
Due to these abilities, SOFIA was this week capable of observing Sharpless 140, which is located some 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus, in great detail.
Astronomers were especially interested in determining how cosmic dust and hydrogen gas clouds were distributed in the nursery. FORCAST collected data in visible, infrared and sub-millimeter wavelengths.
“Observing the birth of stars in our own galaxy is critical because planetary systems form at the same time that a central star is formed,” Harvey explains.
“In addition, some of the most luminous galaxies in the universe appear to be powered by extreme bursts of star formation,” the expert adds, quoted by SpaceRef.