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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Analyzing The Performance Of The Sofia Infrared Telescope, Sarah M. Bass, Jeffrey Van Cleve, Zaheer Ali Aug 2013

Analyzing The Performance Of The Sofia Infrared Telescope, Sarah M. Bass, Jeffrey Van Cleve, Zaheer Ali

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is an airborne near-space observatory onboard a modified Boeing 747-SP aircraft, which flies at altitudes of 45,000 ft., above 99% of the Earth’s water vapor. SOFIA contains an effective 2.5 m infrared (IR) telescope that has a dichroic tertiary mirror, reflecting IR and visible wavelengths to the science instrument (SI) and focal plane imager (FPI), respectively. To date, seven different SIs have been designed to cover a wide range of wavelengths and spectral resolutions. Since the telescope operates in the infrared, different techniques, including chopping, nodding, and dithering, are used to reduce the …


Designing A Cold Source To Be Integrated With The Existing Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator, Rebecca L. Salvemini, Carey Baxter, Zaheer Ali, Greg Perryman, Robert Thompson, Daniel Nolan Aug 2013

Designing A Cold Source To Be Integrated With The Existing Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator, Rebecca L. Salvemini, Carey Baxter, Zaheer Ali, Greg Perryman, Robert Thompson, Daniel Nolan

STAR Program Research Presentations

The stratospheric observatory for infrared astronomy (SOFIA), is a modified Boeing 747-SP with a 2.5m telescope mounted inside. SOFIA flies at an altitude of 45,000 feet, above 99% of the water vapor in the atmosphere, allowing transmission of most infrared radiation. SOFIA has seven different science instruments (SI) that can be used to collect astronomical data, enabling scientists to look at many different wavelengths of infrared and visible radiation.