Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
The Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) was an 80/20 joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to construct and maintain an airborne observatory. NASA awarded the contract for the development of the aircraft, operation of the observatory and management of the American part of the project to the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) in 1996. The DSI (German SOFIA Institute; German: Deutsches SOFIA Institut) managed the German parts of the project which were primarily science-and telescope-related. SOFIA's telescope saw first light on May 26, 2010. SOFIA was the successor to the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. During 10-hour, overnight flights, it observed celestial magnetic fields, star-forming regions, comets, nebulae, and the Galactic Center.
| Organization | |||
| Location | Palmdale Airport (most of the year); Christchurch International Airport (for about 2 months around June/July)
|
||
| Altitude | ground: 702 m (2,303 ft); airborne: 13.7 km (45,000 ft)
|
||
| Website |
Contributors
No records found.More...
This page is the FamousFix profile for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. Content on this page is contributed by editors who belong to our editorial community. We welcome your contributions... so please create an account if you would like to collaborate with other editor's in helping to shape this website.
On the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy page you will be able to add and update factual information, post media and connect this topic to other topics on the website. This website does skew towards famous actors, musicians, models and sports stars, however we would like to expand that to include many other interesting topics.