NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Photo Credit: NASA/Eric James
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Photo Credit: NASA/Eric James
Click image for full-resolution.

The SOFIA exhibit resides inside the museum's Boeing 747-136 cockpit.
Photo Credit: NASA/Eric James
Click image for full-resolution.

The Hiller Aviation Museum and Institute in San Carlos, Calif., unveiled a new exhibit featuring NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) on March 30, 2010. The exhibit resides in the museum's Boeing 747-136 cockpit and consists of a video presentation about the project and describes what SOFIA will study and inspire the next generation of scientists.

SOFIA is the world’s largest airborne astronomical observatory with a German-built 100-inch diameter far-infrared telescope weighing 20 tons mounted in the rear fuselage of a highly modified Boeing 747SP aircraft. Once SOFIA begins science operations, it will fly at altitudes of 39,000 to 45,000 feet which is above 99 percent of the water vapor in the lower atmosphere that restricts the capabilities of ground-based observatories over most of the infrared and sub-millimeter spectral range.

For more information about SOFIA, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/sofia

For information about SOFIA's astronomical science mission, visit:

http://www.sofia.usra.edu

For more information about the Hiller Aviation Museum and Institute, visit:

http://www.hiller.org