SOFIA science community e-mail news July 13, 2010 Contents: (1) More results from SOFIA's First Light flight in May (2) SOFIA Basic Science proposals are due July 30, 2010 (3) AAS DPS Pasadena meeting, SOFIA tour Sunday October 3 (4) AAS DPS Pasadena meeting, SOFIA workshop Monday October 4 (5) SOFIA program status and schedule (6) SOFIA electronic news broadcasts (1) More results from SOFIA's First Light flight in May The SOFIA "Telescope Assembly Characterization and First Light"(TACFL) flight, the observatory's first night flight and first measurements of infrared targets in flight, was successfully conducted on the night of May 25-26, 2010. The flight departed from and returned to the NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, California, spending nearly 8 hours aloft. Astronomical observations were made at an altitude of 35,000 feet (11.7 km) as SOFIA crisscrossed a flight zone over the Pacific Ocean southwest of San Diego. Bright infrared stars were observed at wavelengths from 5 to 37 microns with the FORCAST mid-infrared camera (P.I. Terry Herter, Cornell) to characterize platform & telescope stability as well as the system's Point Spread Function. Extended sources M82 and Jupiter were observed to provide First Light images and further information about system performance. The NASA news release with images resulting from the First Light flight, and the parallel news release by the German Aerospace Center DLR, were picked up and broadcast by print and electronic media around the world, including posting on Reuter's electronic news sign overlooking Times Square in New York City. The news release plus additional images and information can be found at: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/News/news_2010/05_27_10/index.html (2) SOFIA Basic Science proposals are due July 30, 2010 SOFIA Basic Science Call for Proposals issued in April: The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is pleased to invite proposals for Basic Science observations. SOFIA successfully made its "First Light" observations on May 26, 2010. The Basic Science program will consist of about 75 hours of flight time with either the FORCAST mid-infrared camera or the GREAT sub-millimeter heterodyne spectrometer. The observing time is expected to take place during a 2-3 month interval within the time frame of March 1 through August 31, 2011. Documents needed to consider observational possibilities and constraints, and to prepare and submit observing proposals, can be found at http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/proposals/basic_science. Those documents include the Call for Proposals, the SOFIA Observers Handbook for Early Science, the Early Science Calibration Plan, exposure estimation tools and tutorials and the "Reserved Observations Catalogs" for the two instruments (Call for Proposals, Appendix A). Proposals are invited from the world scientific community. Successful proposers with U.S. professional affiliations will be eligible to receive funding to support the acquisition, analysis and publication of Basic Science data, at a level consistent with other NASA-sponsored observing programs. Please direct questions and comments to "sofia_help@sofia.usra.edu". We look forward to your participation in this exciting new research opportunity. SOFIA Science Mission Operations (3) AAS DPS Pasadena meeting, SOFIA tour, Sunday October 3 The American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) 2010 national meeting will be in Pasadena, California, the first week of October. A guided tour of the SOFIA aircraft and the NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (DAOF) in Palmdale (1-1/4 hours by road from Pasadena) will be offered to DPS attendees on Sunday October 3. The tour bus will leave Pasadena at 12:30 pm and return at 5:30 pm. Security passes are required for entry into the DAOF. If you wish to go on the tour, you must reserve your seat by sending the following information with "DPS SOFIA tour" in the subject line to Dr. Jeonghee Rho, jrho@sofia.usra.edu no later than September 3: (i) U.S. CITIZENS Full Name (as it appears on government-issued photo identification*) Date of Birth Place of Birth (City, State) Company/Institution Name Driver's License number and State of issue (if applicable) Last six digits of Social Security Number (ii) FOREIGN NATIONALS Full Name (as it appears on government-issued photo identification*) Date of Birth Place of Birth (City, Country) Company/Institution Name Driver's License number and State of issue (if applicable) Last six digits of Social Security Number (if applicable) Country of Citizenship Permanent Resident Alien Number (if applicable) Visa Number and expiration date (if applicable) Passport Number and expiration date [*you must bring the photo ID with you on the tour] (4) AAS DPS Pasadena meeting, SOFIA Workshop Monday October 4, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., location TBD We will hold a special workshop session, open to all DPS attendees, during which the status of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), including the aircraft, telescope, and science instruments, will be presented. Opportunities to observe with SOFIA will be explained in detail. The schedule can be found at http://dps.aas.org/meetings/2010/. Community input is solicited with an aim toward making SOFIA as useful as possible for planetary science. If you have any questions, please contact the workshop organizer, Bill Reach: wreach@sofia.usra.edu (5) SOFIA program status and schedule SOFIA is currently (summer 2010) undergoing a final series of "envelope expansion" flights in which the observatory will be taken in steps to its maximum operational altitude (45,000 feet, or 13.7 km), with the telescope and telescope cavity door operated at a range of orientations. The SOFIA Short Science observing program is currently scheduled to commence in November 2010, with 2 flight series of 3 flights each that will be conducted by the FORCAST mid-infrared camera (P.I. Terry Herter, Cornell University) and the GREAT sub-millimeter heterodyne spectrometer (P.I. Rolf Guesten, MPIfR) instrument teams. Collaborating investigators were selected via peer review. The Short Science program will be followed in early-to-mid 2011 by the Basic Science program described in item (2) above. (6) SOFIA electronic news broadcasts This broadcast has been sent to member of the SOFIA science community e-mail list. If you do not wish to receive future SOFIA science news e-mail broadcasts, please respond to this message with "un-subscribe" in the subject line. If you wish to continue receiving these broadcasts, but at a different address, please respond to this message with "change address" in the subject line and put your preferred e-mail address in the body of the e-mail. We encourage all interested members of the astronomical community to subscribe to SOFIA electronic news by sending an email to sofia_astronews@sofia.usra.edu with "subscribe" in the subject line and put your preferred e-mail address, and first and last name in the body of the e-mail. 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