SOFIA science community e-mail news, November 2011          
                                                  

1. SOFIA Observatory Completes Envelope Expansion Flight Tests

In August, NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
completed the second segment of flight tests to prepare the observatory
for early science missions, expected to start in December. The highly
modified SOFIA 747SP aircraft now has its flight envelope fully cleared
for astronomical science missions up to 45,000 feet (14 km) altitude and
the telescope cavity door open at all telescope elevation angles. More
information can be found at:
http://www.sofia.usra.edu/News/news_2010/08_09_10/index.html


2. SOFIA Early Science Flights Start in December  

Testing of the entire integrated observatory system and individual
subsystems on NASA's SOFIA 747SP has occurred during October in a series
of ground-based night observations. The Faint Object InfraRed Camera for
the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST) instrument has been mounted on the
telescope for these tests. The FORCAST camera will start the Short
Science flights in December. The German Receiver for Astronomy at
Terahertz Frequencies (GREAT) heterodyne spectrometer has been shipped
to and tested at NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility (DAOF).
Science flights with GREAT are expected to occur early spring 2011.

3. SOFIA Workshop at the Seattle AAS

Tuesday January 11, 2011, 5:30-7:00 PM
Ballroom 6C of the Seattle Convention Center

We will hold a splinter session, "Early Results from the SOFIA
Observatory" during the AAS meeting in Seattle. This workshop will
address science results from the May "First Light" and December Early
Science Flights. Plans for the Basic Science Flights and other aspects
of the SOFIA program status will also be addressed. An Announcement of
Opportunity for the second generation SOFIA science instruments is
anticipated to be released in Spring 2011 by NASA Headquarters, and it
will also be discussed at the workshop. Questions about the Seattle AAS
SOFIA workshop can be addressed to the session organizer, Bob Gehrz at
"gehrz@astro.umn.edu".

Please feel free to direct questions and comments to SOFIA Science Center
help desk at "sofia_help@sofia.usra.edu".