Extragalactic

Measurements of far infrared cooling lines are ideal tools for studying the interstellar medium (ISM, Wolfire et. al. 2003). The brightest of these cooling lines is often the 158 micron line from singly-ionized carbon, or the [CII] 158 μm line (Luhman et. al. 2003), making it a frequent target of study in both local and high-z galaxies (Léfvre et. al. 2020). This emission line can originate in a wide variety of ISM environments, which complicates the utility of [CII] as an indicator of ISM properties. This complication can be overcome by using velocity-resolved maps of both the [CII] emission and the 205 μm line of singly ionized nitrogen ([NII] 205 μm). Resolved [CII] 158 μm and [NII] 205 μm maps of three HII regions in M33 obtained by the GREAT instrument onboard SOFIA are currently available on the IRS SOFIA Archive. These detailed maps are useful for a wide variety of studies of ISM conditions relating to star formation.

The entirety of the M51 galaxy was imaged using both FIFI-LS and GREAT. This dataset consists of the first complete, velocity resolved [CII] 158 µm image of the M51 grand-design spiral galaxy with the upGREAT and FIFI-LS instruments on SOFIA.

What is the role of magnetic fields in sculpting the ISM at kiloparsec scales? This question is the driver behind the Legacy Program: 'SOFIA heralds a new era of measuring the magnetic fields of galaxies', which consists of 50-220 microns polarimetric observations of 17 nearby galaxies including starbursts, mergers, active galaxies, and spiral galaxies. The HAWC+ data for targets M82, NGC 1097, NGC 2146, NGC 6946, Centaurus A, and Circinus are already public on IRSA.

30 Doradus is an ideal laboratory for studying massive star-forming regions. To better understand these processes, multiple SOFIA instruments have mapped 30 Doradus at a variety of infrared bands. These include FIFI-LS maps of the [CII], [OI], [NII], and [OIII] lines, GREAT maps of the [13CII] isotope transition, and HAWC+ polarization maps at 53, 89, 154, and 214 μm.

Data for an unprecedented infrared polarimetric analysis of the 30 Doradus star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud were taken by HAWC+. At the center is a cluster of O-type and Wolf-Rayet stars that heat the surrounding dust, allowing for in-depth total intensity and polarimetry analysis of star formation in the infrared. SOFIA compiled polarization maps taken at 53, 89, 154, and 214 µm, revealing dust emission between 10-100 K and allowing for an inferred morphology study of the magnetic field.

The recent Type Ia Supernova in nearby galaxy M82, SN2014J, was observed by FORCAST and FLITECAM. The FORCAST data consists of imaging at 7.7, 8.6, 11.1, 19.7, 37.1 µm as well as spectroscopy of 4.0-8.6 µm and 8.4-13.7 µm. Additional FLITECAM grism spectroscopy are available in the J,H,K, and L+M B and C bands. These data help to constrain Type Ia Supernova properties for cosmological models.