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By Robert D. Gehrz, U. Minnesota
Leader,
SOFIA Community Task Force (SCTF)
The first of a series of NASA Stratospheric Observatory for Astronomy
(SOFIA) Workshops will be held at the 211th Meeting of the AAS in Austin,
TX on Monday, January 7, 2008 from 1 to 5 PM. This Workshop is
organized by the SOFIA Community Task Force (SCTF), whose objectives are
to inform and engage the astronomical community in planning for the SOFIA
General Observer (GO) science program, and to develop a long-range science
plan that will realize the potential of SOFIA as as a premier observatory
and as a platform for developing forefront technology.
There will be a description of the state of the SOFIA Project and a charge
to several working groups that will meet in splinter sessions to consider
the early SOFIA general observer (GO) science plan. The working groups
will discuss, revise, and update the scientific cases associated
with the SOFIA Mission. Following the splinter sessions, a plenary
session will be held to summarize working group findings and to charge the
working groups with providing input to a SOFIA Science Opportunities
Document. The working groups will be assigned tasks required to
produce this document following the workshop. Their products will be
reviewed and revised at the "SOFIA Community Task Force AAS Workshop II"
to be held at the 212th AAS Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri in June, 2008.
Everyone is welcome. This is your chance to help define the ways that
SOFIA will best serve the science community. We specifically encourage
attendance by astronomers who have never had airborne astronomy
experience, theoreticians, and the large new community of astronomers
doing
infrared astronomy with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Refreshments will
be provided. For more information, contact Robert D. Gehrz, SCTF Leader,
Department of Astronomy, School of Physics and Astronomy, 116 Church St.,
SE, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, phone: (612) 624-7806,
e-mail: gehrz@astro.umn.edu.
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) began its
post-modification test flight series on April 26, 2007 in Waco, Texas.
Erik Lindbergh joined NASA in Waco on May 21 to re-dedicate the plane
"Clipper Lindbergh" in honor of his grandfather, pioneering aviator
Charles A. Lindbergh. The plane was originally dedicated by Anne Morrow
Lindbergh. SOFIA is now undergoing further testing and flight integration
at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California.
It is expected to begin science demonstration flights with
the initial instrument complement in early 2009. The current status of
the SOFIA Project and the SOFIA science case are summarized in powerpoint
presentations that may be viewed at: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/speakers/powerpoint.html.
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