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SOFIA Community Task Force Workshop II:
Early Science Opportunities with SOFIA

1-5 p.m. Sunday June 1, at the St. Louis AAS
(AAS registration not required to attend this SOFIA "splinter session")

June 2008 SOFIA Early Science Opportunities White Paper (Word doc., 128 KB)

Preparations for SOFIA Science in mid-2009

First science flights of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) are expected in mid-2009. SOFIA is a 2.5-meter telescope in a modified Boeing 747SP aircraft that flies in the stratosphere above more than 99% of the infrared-obscuring water vapor. It is a joint program between NASA and the German Space agency, DLR.

A process to help involve the U.S. scientific community in SOFIA's early science program began with a workshop at the Austin January 2008 AAS meeting. Attendees heard the latest information about the SOFIA mission and the observatory's instruments and scientific capabilities, and then broke into working groups to being drafting components of a white paper regarding SOFIA's main science themes.

There will be a second SOFIA AAS workshop, to be held in St. Louis from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday June 1 (the day before the start of the main AAS meeting), to present drafts of the white paper components and continue discussions aimed at readying SOFIA's science case for the Decadal Review. All members of the astronomical community are welcome - you do not need to have attended the January AAS SOFIA workshop.

The June 1 AAS SOFIA workshop will also include information regarding the first two SOFIA general calls for observing proposals, aimed at: (1) the "Short Science" program, in which 1-2 projects will receive approximately 3 flights each using either a mid-IR camera or a far-IR / sub-mm spectrograph. A "Dear Colleague" letter inviting participation in Short Science will be issued in the summer of 2008; and (2) the "Basic Science" program in which 1-2 projects will receive approximately 10 flights each during a period of 1-2 months; the call for SOFIA Basic Science proposals will be issued at the end of 2008.

The AAS Workshop co-organizers are Bob Gehrz of U. Minnesota and Tom Roellig of NASA-Ames.

SOFIA Community Task Force Workshop I:
Early Science Opportunities with SOFIA

 

January 7, 2008 Presentations

E. Becklin SOFIA Early Science: Program Overview (PPT, 7.7 MB)
Movie file #1 accompanying Jan '08 Becklin Early Science PPT (MPEG-4, 41 MB)
Movie file #2 accompanying Jan '08 Becklin Early Science PPT (AVI, 14.4 MB)
right-click (PC) or control-click (Mac) to download movie files

S. Casey SOFIA Early Science: Imaging (PPT, 15.1 MB)
 

MONDAY 7 January 2008, at the 211th Meeting of the AAS in Austin, TX
(NOTE that this is before the AAS opening reception Monday evening.)

 

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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Page Last Updated: June 24, 2008

 
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