SOFIA Artist Concept

Artist’s impression

California artist Lynette Cook created an impressionistic montage that includes the SOFIA aircraft set against the types of cosmic phenomena that SOFIA observes, including a star-forming region, the Orion Nebula, comets, a supernova, a variety of biogenic molecules, a protoplanetary disk, Jupiter-like extrasolar planets likely to have moons, and various galaxies, including the Milky Way.

SOFIA’s instruments — cameras, spectrometers and polarimeters — operate at near-, mid- and far-infrared wavelengths, each suited to studying a particular phenomenon. Flying into the stratosphere at 38,000–45,000 feet puts SOFIA above 99 percent of Earth’s infrared-blocking atmosphere, letting astronomers study the solar system and beyond in ways that are not possible from the ground. SOFIA is an 80/20 partnership of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

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