31st of August 2016 |
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ATNF Colloquium |
A Night on SOFIA |
by Stuart Ryder (AAO) |
Abstract. Earlier this year I had the
rare opportunity to fly on NASA's Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared
Astronomy (SOFIA), a Boeing 747 with a 2.5m telescope that flies above 40,000
ft and most of the atmospheric water vapour that absorbs far-infrared
radiation. In this talk I will outline what it took to get SOFIA off the
ground, and give an inside look at what observing with the world's only
flying telescope is like. Image credit: NASA |