SOFIA Cycle 5 Results, Asilomar Conference Report, and New Instrument HIRMES 1. SOFIA Cycle 5 Results Announced 2. Report on the SOFIA Conference at Asilomar, October 17-20, 2016 3. Details from the FIFI-LS Workshop held October 21, 2016 4. HIRMES (High Resolution Mid-infrarEd Spectrometer) is selected as SOFIA’s third generation instrument 5. SOFIA Science: SOFIA Finds Consistency in Infalling Time Scales in Collapsing Clouds 6. SOFIA Employment Opportunities 1. SOFIA Cycle 5 Results Announced The results of the SOFIA Cycle 5 Call for Proposals were announced on October 24, 2016. A total of 72 proposals from the US queue and 23 proposals from the German queue were awarded time. The total time award was 455 hours for the US queue proposals, and 80 hours for the German queue, with an additional 36 hours for the carryover of the highest rated Cycle 4 programs. Cycle 5 will extend from February 2017 to January 2018. An eight-week deployment to the Southern Hemisphere is envisioned, extending from late June to late August 2017, employing three instruments: the upGREAT high-resolution far-infrared spectrometer, the FORCAST mid-infrared camera and spectrometer, and the FIFI-LS far-infrared imaging spectrometer. A Triton occultation observation is slated for October 5, 2017, using the FLIPO and FPI+ instruments. The new HAWC+ far-infrared camera with polarimeter was in high demand for Cycle 5 observations. One of the approved programs involves a joint study with the ALMA facility (Atacama large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) of magnetic fields and star formation in Ophiuchus. Two Joint Impact Programs and one Impact Program were awarded time. Impact Programs are large, potentially multi-year programs that address specific scientific problems of high importance and broad interest. Those awarded time in Cycle 5 include observations: 1) to map ionized carbon and neutral oxygen across the Galaxy's Central Molecular Zone and 2) to observe the para-H2D+ molecule to measure the timescale of star formation. The EXES mid-IR spectrometer also has two large programs: 1) a survey of the organic inventory of hot cores and 2) a molecular line survey toward Orion IRc2. The approved Cycle 5 programs with their abstracts are available at: https://www.sofia.usra.edu/science/proposing-and-observing/sofia-cycle-5-results The awarded proposals will also be indexed in the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS). 2. Report on the SOFIA Conference at Asilomar, October 17-20, 2016 "The Local Truth: Star Formation and Feedback in the SOFIA Era" was held at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in California during October 17-20, 2016. About 100 astronomers from all around the world attended the conference. Many new SOFIA results on a wide range of topics related to star formation and the interstellar medium were presented and discussed at the conference and we look forward to reading publications of those results. Additionally, there were evening talks on the history of airborne astronomy and on synergies of SOFIA with other facilities. The meeting was highly productive and the organizers appreciate the positive feedback from the participants. There will be no Conference Proceedings for the meeting; instead the presentations are posted on our website and will continue to be added as they are submitted. Please check the website at: https://www.sofia.usra.edu/conference/local-truth-star-formation-and-feedback-sofia-era-celebrating-50-years-airborne-5 3. Details from the FIFI-LS Workshop held on October 21, 2016 A one-day FIFI-LS workshop was held on October 21, 2016, at the SOFIA Science Center, at NASA Ames Research Center. The workshop introduced Fluxer, a tool to evaluate and improve analysis of FIFI-LS data. The workshop was well received and helped many FIFI-LS users to get the most out of their data. The agenda of the workshop included the following presentations: • FIFI-LS Overview and Latest News: Alfred Krabbe • Science with FIFI-LS: Randolf Klein • Observing Modes and How to Use Them: Christian Fischer • FIFI-LS data products: Dario Fadda • Evaluating the Data with Fluxer: Christof Iserlohe • Interactive Hands-on Data Session The presentations and FIFI-LS data analysis tool are available, respectively, at: https://www.sofia.usra.edu/science/meetings-and-events/events/workshops/fifi-ls-workshop http://ciserlohe.de/fluxer/fluxer.html 4. HIRMES (High Resolution Mid-infrarEd Spectrometer) is selected as SOFIA’s third generation instrument A team from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has been selected to develop a new, third-generation facility science instrument, known as the High Resolution Mid-InfrarEd Spectrometer (HIRMES) for SOFIA. Samuel Harvey Moseley from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is the principal investigator of HIRMES. The team consists of co-investigators from Space Dynamics Lab, Precision Cryogenic Systems, Inc., University of Michigan, University of Maryland, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Johns Hopkins University, Space Telescope Science Institute, Cornell University and University of Rochester. HIRMES is a direct detection spectrometer and covers the spectral range from 25 to 122 microns. HIRMES will have four spectroscopic modes: High-resolution mode (Resolution ~ 100,000), Mid-resolution mode (R ~ 10,000), Low-resolution mode (R ~ 600), and Imaging spectroscopy mode (R ~ 2000). HIRMES uses both background limited bolometers and a combination of Fabry-Perot Interferometers and gratings in order to optimize the maximum sensitivity achievable with SOFIA. HIRMES primary science is to investigate protoplanetary disk physics and planet formation and addresses the questions: • How does the disk mass evolve during planetary formation? • What is the distribution of oxygen, water ice, and water vapor in different phases of planet formation? • What are the kinematics of water vapor and oxygen in protoplanetary disks? Moseley and his team will construct HIRMES over the next two and one-half years with flights on board SOFIA slated for spring 2019. At that time this unique research asset will also be made available for astronomical community. More information can be found at: https://www.sofia.usra.edu/public/news-updates/nasa-selects-next-generation-spectrometer-sofia-flying-observatory NASA anticipates soliciting proposals for next generation instrumentation on SOFIA in 2017. 5. SOFIA Science: SOFIA Finds Consistency in Infalling Time Scales in Collapsing Clouds Using the GREAT instrument on board SOFIA, nine massive molecular clumps have been observed in the ammonia line at 1.8 THz in a search for signatures of infall. The sources were selected from the ATLASGAL (Herschel and ground-based molecular line programs) submillimeter dust continuum survey of our galaxy. Clumps with high masses covering a range of evolutionary stages based on their infrared properties were chosen. The ammonia line was detected in all sources, leading to five new detections and one confirmation of a previous detection of redshifted absorption in front of their strong THz continuum as a probe of infall in the clumps. These detections include two clumps embedded in infrared dark clouds. The measured velocity shifts of the absorptions compared to optically thin CO emission are a few kilometer per second, corresponding to fractions of 3-30 percent of the free-fall velocities of the clumps. Astronomers have abundant indirect evidence that stars form from contraction of interstellar clouds, but direct evidence of infall is technically very difficult to obtain. These observations found six new examples of infall, adding substantially to the list of less than a dozen protostars previously observed in this formation stage. This article is published by Wyrowki et al. (2016) in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Journal (2016, 585, 149). More information can be found at: http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2016/01/aa26361-15/aa26361-15.html https://www.nasa.gov/feature/sofia-detects-collapsing-clouds-becoming-young-suns 6. SOFIA Employment Opportunities Currently available SOFIA USRA (Universities Space Research Association) job openings include: (A) two positions for Instrument Scientists and (B) one position for a combination of Instrument Support and Instrument Operator. In addition to the listings on the USRA website, these positions have been posted on the AAS Job Register. More information can be found at: https://usra-openhire.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobInfo&version=1&jobid=519 https://usra-openhire.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobInfo&version=1&jobid=516 http://jobregister.aas.org/job_view?JobID=56886 http://jobregister.aas.org/job_view?JobID=56889 Please direct questions and comments to the SOFIA Science Center help desk at:"sofia_help [at] sofia.usra.edu". This SOFIA E-newsletter is 2016 November issue. Follow SOFIA: Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter: @SOFIAtelescope YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SOFIAObservatory