Most telescopes on Earth are located in a desert or on a mountain peak. NASA'sSOFIA isn't the most popular telescope.
NASA and the German space agency collaborated on a flying observatory. It's a Boeing 747SP aircraft with a huge hole in it's body, through which a 106-inch telescope can see the universe. The instruments had to observe through less of the Earth's atmosphere because of SOFIA's flights.
SOFIA began regular operations in 2014 and since then has been cruising through the night skies around the world looking at the universe. The three-year mission extension ends with the campaign. According to the most recent astrophysics decadal survey, it will be decommissioned soon.
There are photos from NASA's flying telescope.
SOFIA accomplished a wide variety of scientific achievements that will have a lasting impact on our understanding of many aspects of astrophysics. The SOFIA team, scientists and engineers, was the best example of professionalism, creativity and resilience during the most difficult and challenging phase of the COVID-19 epidemic. The team was able to manage two international deployment.
We are taking a look back at some of SOFIA's most significant discoveries.
Scientists announced in 2020 that they had found trace amounts of water on the moon. SOFIA was able to confirm the presence of water on the sunlit part of the moon by finding a unique feature to water molecule. Water has been found in the Moretus Crater of the moon.
The Sahara desert has 100 times the amount of water as the Clavius crater did. Future NASA moon missions and the return of astronauts to the moon for the first time in 42 years could be affected by the water's presence.
Science was done closer to home. The mesosphere and lower thermoosphere are not well understood. The German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz frequencies (GREAT) instrument measured atomic oxygen in the upper atmosphere. Scientists are researching the exchange of solar energy between space and the Earth.
The researchers were able to provide a constraint on the temperature of the mesosphere. Climate change models rely on these temperature measurement to understand Earth's climate change.
One of SOFIA's enduring legacies is the program that observed the magnetic fields in nearby galaxies. SOFIA has an unparalleled spatial resolution for these studies and it observed fine details that were otherwise impossible.
There were many discoveries made by the Survey on Extragalactic Magnetism with SOFIA. The program has found out that all the galaxies have magnetic fields. The magnetic fields of recently-merged galaxies areamplified and turbulent.
The SOFIA looked at the magnetic fields of a galaxy. Magnetic fields play a key role in spoon-feeding matter from the spiral arms to the black hole. The interplay between gravity and magnetic fields is an example of how astronomy is unraveling the mysteries of the universe.
The first molecule to form in the universe is thought to be a combination of hydrogen and helium. Even in regions that mimicked the environment of the early universe, there was no trace of the molecule. That's until they used SOFIA.
"SOFIA's Great instrument is a highly sensitive, high-resolution instrument that could, in theory, make a detection of helium hydride in our modern universe, but first it needed an upgrade." The first detection of helium hydride in the modern universe was supported by the theories of the early universe.
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