SOFIA Community Task Force Workshop II:
Early Science Opportunities with SOFIA

1-5 p.m. Sunday June 1, at the St. Louis AAS
(AAS registration not required to attend this SOFIA "splinter session")

Preparations for SOFIA Science in mid-2009

First science flights of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA) are expected in mid-2009. SOFIA is a 2.5-meter
telescope in a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that flies in the
stratosphere above more than 99% of the infrared-obscuring water vapor.
It is a joint program between NASA and the German Space agency, DLR.

A process to help involve the U.S. scientific community in SOFIA's
early science program began with a workshop at the Austin January 2008
AAS meeting. Attendees heard the latest information about the SOFIA
mission and the observatory's instruments and scientific capabilities,
and then broke into working groups to being drafting components of a
white paper regarding SOFIA's main science themes.

There will be a second SOFIA AAS workshop, to be held in St. Louis from
1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday June 1 (the day before the start of the main AAS
meeting), to present drafts of the white paper components and continue
discussions aimed at readying SOFIA's science case for the Decadal
Review. All members of the astronomical community are welcome - you do
not need to have attended the January AAS SOFIA workshop.

The June 1 AAS SOFIA workshop will also include information regarding
the first two SOFIA general calls for observing proposals, aimed at:
(1) the "Short Science" program, in which 1-2 projects will receive
approximately 3 flights each using either a mid-IR camera or a far-IR /
sub-mm spectrograph. A "Dear Colleague" letter inviting participation
in Short Science will be issued in the summer of 2008; and (2) the
"Basic Science" program in which 1-2 projects will receive
approximately 10 flights each during a period of 1-2 months; the call
for SOFIA Basic Science proposals will be issued at the end of 2008.

The AAS Workshop co-organizers are Bob Gehrz of U. Minnesota and Tom
Roellig of NASA-Ames.