SOFIA’s Southern Hemisphere Deployment, Cycle 2 Proposals Status, and Winter 2014 AAS Splinter Session 1. SOFIA’s First Southern Hemisphere Deployment and Science Observations 2. SOFIA Cycle 2 Observing Proposals in Review 3. SOFIA Splinter Session during the January 2014 AAS meeting 1. SOFIA’s First Southern Hemisphere Deployment and Science Observations SOFIA made its first deployment to the southern hemisphere from July 12 through August 2, 2013. The observatory departed from NASA’s Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (DAOF) in Palmdale, California on July 12, 2013, stopped briefly at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, and arrived at Christchurch International Airport in New Zealand on the morning of July 13, local time. The airfield in Christchurch was chosen as the southern base for SOFIA’s operations because it has an existing facility for the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Program. A few telescope and instrument characterization tests were followed by science observations for U.S. and German Guest Investigators and members of the GREAT consortium. The German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) instrument, a far-infrared heterodyne spectrometer (P.I. Rolf Guesten of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn) was on board SOFIA during all of the deployment flights. Research targets included the nucleus of the Milky Way, southern star forming regions, molecular clouds, and supernova remnants, and the Magellanic Clouds. SOFIA safely returned to the U.S. on August 2. SOFIA’s southern hemisphere deployment was an outstanding success, scientifically and operationally. GREAT provides unprecedentedly high spectral resolution (up to R ~ 100 million) at far-infrared wavelengths, and SOFIA’s ability to carry GREAT into the stratosphere is crucial because far-infrared light is almost completely blocked by water vapor in Earth’s lower atmosphere. During a time span of three weeks, SOFIA completed nine full 10-hour science flights, obtaining nearly 100% of the planned science observations. The atmospheric water vapor content in the winter stratosphere above the Antarctic Ocean was the lowest ever measured from SOFIA. GREAT Principal Investigator Rolf Guesten remarked that the far-infrared transparency was “like observing from space.” A post-deployment update from Program Manager Eddie Zavala, including some photos from SOFIA’s return to California, is here: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/News/news_2013/08_12_13/index.html A gallery of 275 photos from the deployment is here: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Gallery/deployment2013/index.html SOFIA’s observations with GREAT help advance our understanding of astrochemistry in interstellar clouds and star-forming nurseries. Current plans are for SOFIA to return to the southern hemisphere in 2015, and thereafter regularly observe southern skies during SOFIA’s planned 20 years of full operations. 2. SOFIA Cycle 2 Call for Proposals in Review The proposal opportunity for SOFIA’s Guest Investigator program for the second full-year observing cycle (calendar year 2014) closed on June 28, 2013. Over 100 proposals with more than 350 participating researchers from eleven countries on four continents were submitted via parallel U.S. and German calls. Proposed programs covered all areas of astronomy and requested observing time with each of the instruments to be available next year: FORCAST mid-IR camera (with grism), GREAT far-IR spectrometer, FLITECAM near-IR camera (with grism), HIPO optical high-speed photometer, co-mounted combination of FLITECAM and HIPO dubbed “FLIPO”, EXES mid-IR spectrometer, FIFI-LS far-IR imaging spectrometer. The proposals are evaluated by peer review panels meeting in August (U.S.) and September (Germany). Final selections will be made by the SOFIA Science Mission Operations director Erick Young and deputy director Hans Zinnecker; results will be announced at the end of September. Observations of the Cycle 2 targets are scheduled to start in early February 2014 and conclude in December 2014. We in the SOFIA program thank the astronomical community for their interest in the observatory, and look forward with excitement to the start of Cycle 2 science. The Cycle 3 Call for Proposals is currently scheduled for release in April 2014. Cycle 3 observations will be executed during calendar year 2015 and will include SOFIA’s second southern hemisphere deployment. 3. SOFIA Splinter Session during the January 2014 AAS meeting Plans are being made for a SOFIA mission splinter session during the 223rd AAS meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, January 5-9 2014. Early Science and Cycle 1 results as well as information about SOFIA’s recent extensive upgrades of mission systems, the southern hemisphere deployment, and science instrument development & commissioning status will be presented. Future opportunities for science and instrument proposal calls also will be addressed. Detailed information will be posted at the AAS website and also: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/