SOFIA science community e-mail news, September 2011 1. WISE/Spitzer extragalactic astronomy meeting: SOFIA tour, Sunday, Oct. 2 2. SOFIA Second Generation Instrument proposals: due Oct. 7 3. SOFIA Data Workshop in November 2011 4. SOFIA completes Basic Science 1 observing program (FORCAST mid-IR camera) and continues Basic Science 2 program (GREAT far-IR spectrometer). 5. Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (educators) fly on SOFIA flights 6. SOFIA successfully observes challenging Pluto Occultation 7. SOFIA to deploy to Germany and Washington D. C. in September 8. SOFIA to visit NASA Ames, Moffett Field in October 9. Anticipated schedule of Cycle 1 Observing Call for Proposals 10. SOFIA Observatory Status Update and Timeline 1. WISE/Spitzer extragalactic astronomy meeting: SOFIA tour, Sunday, Oct. 2 A guided tour of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy SOFIA) aircraft and the NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (DAOF) in Palmdale (1-1/4 hours by road from Pasadena) will be offered to attendees of "Through the Infrared Looking Glass: A Dusty View of Galaxy and AGN Evolution" in Pasadena on Sunday, October 2. The tour is also open to scientists in the LA area who are not registered for the conference. The tour bus will leave Pasadena at 12:30 pm and return around 5:00 pm. The bus will depart from the main entrance of the Hilton Hotel in Pasadena. More information can be found at: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/workshops/Pasadena2011.html 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 the subject line of "Pasadena SOFIA tour" to Jeonghee Rho (Associate Scientist, jrho@sofia.usra.edu) copied to Nick Veronico (Public Affairs Officer, nveronico@sofia.usra.edu), no later than September 9, 2011: (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 THIS PHOTO ID WITH YOU ON THE TOUR. 2. SOFIA Second Generation Instrument proposals: due October 7, 2011 The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Announcement of Opportunity (AO) NNH08ZDA009O, "Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON)," has been released to establish a new Program Element Appendix (PEA) as Appendix H8, SOFIA Second Generation Instrument Investigations. The solicitation (NNH08ZDA009O-SOFIA2G) is now open. Details may be found at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ (select "Solicitations" then "Open Solicitations" then "NNH08ZDA009O"). The notice of intents (NOI) and proposals are due on August 15 and October 7, 2011, respectively. A pre-proposal conference has been held, for which the details have been posted on the SOFIA "Additional Information Home Page", at the NASA Science Office of Mission Assessments: http://soma.larc.nasa.gov/SOFIA/. Important information on the solicitation can also be found at this website. Questions specifically regarding this NASA solicitation should be directed to Dr. Paul Hertz, NASA SOFIA Program Scientist, Science Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC 20546; Tel.: (202) 358-0986; E-mail: paul.hertz@nasa.gov (subject line to read "SOFIA Instrument AO"). 3. SOFIA Data Workshop in November, 2011 The SOFIA Science Center will host a workshop at the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, on November 7 & 8, 2011. During the workshop, participants will get a detailed introduction to FORCAST and GREAT observations. Examples of science data will be discussed, and made available to participants, so they can get hands-on experience with data analysis. The observing capabilities of new instruments available for Cycle 1, FLITECAM (near-IR camera with grism) and HIPO (optical-wavelength high-speed photometer), will also be presented. For further details, and to register for the workshop please visit, http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/workshops/SOFIA_Workshop_2011/ . If you have any questions, you may send email to "nov2011@sofia.usra.edu". 4. SOFIA completes Basic Science 1 observing program (FORCAST mid-IR camera) and continues Basic Science 2 program (GREAT far-IR spectrometer). Basic Science is the second phase of early science operations with participation of the broad science community in SOFIA science. SOFIA successfully observed and completed the Basic Science observing programs with the FORCAST mid-IR camera (P.I. Terry Herter, Cornell University) from May to June, 2011. Basic Science programs with GREAT far-IR spectrometer (P.I. Rolf Guesten, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy) have been performed during July and will resume in September, 2011. More information about the proposals accepted for the Basic Science 1 and 2 can be found at: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/proposals/basic_science/ 5. Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (educators) fly on SOFIA flights NASA selected six classroom educators in March, 2011 to work with scientists during SOFIA science flights in an Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors "pilot" program. The teachers flew in teams of two on 3 flights in May and June. Selection was also made by SOFIA's German partners of two educators who flew on one flight in July. The educators were enabled to join SOFIA's research program and take that experience back to their schools and communities in a unique opportunity for NASA to enhance science and math education across the country. More than 70 teachers flew on NASA's previous flying observatory, the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, from 1991 through 1995, and that program had long-lasting, positive effects on both the teachers and their students. News articles and broadcasts associated with the 6 U.S. AAA teachers can be found at: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/News/sofiainthenews/cbs/cbs_June-11.html and http://www.sofia.usra.edu/News/sofiainthenews/abc/abc7_May-11.html Once SOFIA is fully operational, approximately 60 educators (including science museum educators as well as classroom teachers) will be selected each year to participate in more research flights. Educator training will provide classroom activities that educators can take back to their schools, museums, and communities. More information can be found at: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/News/news_2011/05_10_11/index.html 6. SOFIA successfully observes challenging Pluto Occultation On June 23, 2011, SOFIA observed the dwarf planet Pluto as it passed in front of a distant star. This occultation allowed scientific analysis of Pluto and its atmosphere by flying SOFIA at the right moment to an exact location where Pluto's shadow fell on Earth. This event was the first demonstration in practice of one of SOFIA's major design capabilities. Pluto's shadow traveled at 53,000 mph across a mostly empty stretch of the Pacific Ocean. SOFIA flew more than 1,800 miles out over the Pacific Ocean from its base in southern California to position itself in the center of the shadow's path, and was the only observatory capable of doing such observations. Occultations allow scientists the ability to measure pressure, density, and temperature profiles of Pluto's atmosphere without leaving the Earth. Two instruments, the High-Speed Imaging Photometer for Occultation (HIPO, PI: Ted Dunham) along with the Fast Diagnostic Camera (FDC, made by the SOFIA German team) aboard SOFIA were able to detect the occultations. The success of the occultation observation substantially adds to SOFIA's ability to serve the world's scientific community. More information can be found at: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/News/news_2011/06_24_11/index.html 7. SOFIA deploys to Germany and visits Washington D. C. in September, 2011 SOFIA is planning a deployment to its partner country of Germany on September 15-21. A large SOFIA display is planned adjacent to the aircraft at the Cologne air show (expected attendance 100,000), and there will be a smaller display next to the terminal, separated from the aircraft, at Stuttgart. On the westbound trans-Atlantic return, SOFIA will visit the Washington D. C. area. A detailed schedule of the events will be published on the SOFIA website. 8. SOFIA to visit NASA Ames, Moffett Field in October, 2011 SOFIA is expected to visit NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, the home of the SOFIA Science Center, from Friday October 14 to Monday October 17. There will be a public open house (details yet to be fully defined) on Saturday, October 15. Detailed schedule and information will be posted on the SOFIA Science Canter website, http://www.sofia.usra.edu. 9. Anticipated schedule of Cycle 1 Observing Call for Proposals It is expected that the Call for Proposals for observing with SOFIA during "Cycle 1" will be issued sometime in October or November, 2011. The deadline for proposal submission would then be mid-January or February, 2012. Cycle 1 observing is scheduled to start in July, 2012 and take place during four observing campaigns over the course of the following 10 months. Updated information will be provided on the SOFIA website. SOFIA presentations at the Boston AAS meeting that included information on available instruments for the Cycle 1 Call for Proposals and the current status of the SOFIA project can be found at: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/workshops/index.html 10. SOFIA Observatory Status Update and Timeline Integration and verification testing of First Light Infrared Test Experiment CAMera (FLITECAM; P.I. Ian MacLean, UCLA) and the High-speed Imaging Photometer for Occultation (HIPO; P.I. Ted Dunham, Lowell Observatory) will extend from the middle to the end of August, 2011. FLITECAM/HIPO have been shipped to NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (DAOF). The commissioning activities of FLITECAM and HIPO will resume in October and November, 2011. The wavelength coverage of HIPO is 0.3-1 micron and FLITECAM is 1-5 micron. FLITECAM will have spectroscopy capabilities with grisms. Please feel free to direct questions and comments to the SOFIA Science Center help desk at "sofia_help@sofia.usra.edu", and subscribe to SOFIA electronic news by sending an email to sofia_astronews@sofia.usra.edu with "subscribe" in the subject line.