SOFIA in the News

The need for a large cutout in the side of the aircraft is self-evident when considering the needs of a telescope. Measuring 4.6m high by 4.3m wide, the opening roughly spans the 3 o'clock to 12 o'clock arc looking rearward. At any one time during operations at altitude, one third of that space - about 6.6 m2 (71ft2) - is open to the atmosphere, allowing the Cassegrain telescope to rotate from 15e_SDgr to 60e_SDgr above the horizon during observations.

- Flightglobal.com, November 2008

SOFIA featured Flightglobal article (link to full article) (November 2008)