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SOFIA Telescope

Spatial Resolution Comparison of SOFIA to
IRAS, ISO, KAO, & SIRTF

The above graph shows the spatial resolution (the ability to discern fine details) of SOFIA at wavelengths from 0.3 to 1000 µm and also compares the resolution of SOFIA's instruments with the instruments of KAO, IRAS, ISO, SIRTF and Herschel. The dashed red line represents SOFIA's minimal requirements, the solid line represents SOFIA's goal. At wavelengths between 4 and 1000 µm, SOFIA has the advantage of achieving extremely high spatial reolution.