NASA - SOFIA

There's a problem with your browser or settings.

Your browser or your browser's settings are not supported. To get the best experience possible, please download a compatible browser. If you know your browser is up to date, you should check to ensure that javascript is enabled.

› Learn How

Follow this link to skip to the main content

NASA Home
> Missions
> SOFIA
- Send
- Follow this link to Share This Page
  Share

Media Contacts

Nicholas A. Veronico
Universities Space Research Association
SOFIA Public Affairs
650-604-4589
nveronico@sofia.usra.edu

Beth Hagenauer
Office of Public Affairs
Dryden Flight Research Center
661-276-7960
Beth.Hagenauer-1@nasa.gov

RSS Feeds

SOFIA News and Features

News

SOFIA Science Featured in Astronomy & Astrophysics

German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies spectrometer, or GREAT, is mounted on the SOFIA's telescope.

German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies spectrometer, or GREAT, is mounted on the SOFIA's telescope.

The European Astronomy & Astrophysics May 10 issue details observations made with the German-built GREAT far-IR spectrometer on the SOFIA telescope.

› View larger photo

Latest News

SOFIA Observatory Featured in Astrophysical Journal

With the sliding door over its 17-ton infrared telescope wide open, NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy – or SOFIA – soars over California's snow-covered Southern Sierras on a test flight in 2010

04.19.12

Observations made with NASA's SOFIA airborne telescope are the subject of a special edition of the respected astronomical research publication.

› Learn more
› View photos

SOFIA Observatory to Get New Wideband Camera

Ground crewmen approach NASA's SOFIA flying observatory shortly after the modified Boeing 747SP carrying a 100-inch telescope landed following an all-night astronomical observation mission.

04.17.12

Second-generation High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera provides a sensitive, versatile and reliable imaging capability to the SOFIA astronomers

› Learn more

SOFIA Captures Images Of Planetary Nebula M2-9

image of the planetary nebula Minkowski 2-9

03.29.12

Researchers using NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy capture infrared images of the last exhalations of a dying sun-like star.

› Learn more

View Archive

News and Events Features

Educators Selected to Fly on NASA's SOFIA Airborne Observatory

26 educators have been selected to partner with professional astronomers on research flights aboard NASA's SOFIA flying observatory in 2012-13.
SOFIA Captures New W3A Star Cluster Images

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy researchers have captured new images of a recently born cluster of massive stars named W3A.
SOFIA Airborne Astronomy Ambassador Teacher at AAS

High school science teacher Margaret "Peggy" Piper will be available for interviews during the American Astronomical Society meeting Jan. 8-12.

View Archive

Spotlight

SOFIA Overview

NASA is developing the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy - or SOFIA - as a world-class airborne observatory that will complement the Hubble, Spitzer, Herschel and James Webb space telescopes.
› Fact Sheet
› Infrared Astronomy
SOFIA Quick Facts

Download a PDF document containing aircraft, telescope and historical hightlights.
SOFIA Science Center →

The SOFIA Science Center is operated by Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and the Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI) for NASA and the German aerospace center DLR.

Related Multimedia

Photo Gallery

Infrared image of the heart of the Orion star-formation complex was taken from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) using the FORCAST mid-infrared camera

› View Gallery

Video Gallery

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy 747SP flies over California's Mojave Desert during a functional check flight Dec. 9, 2009.

› View →