NASA's flying observatory expanding new frontiers in the solar system and beyond
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - 06:31
in Astronomy & Space
NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, will soon be studying Neptune's giant moon, Triton, and following-up on Hubble's recent sighting of water plumes on Jupiter's moon Europa. According to recently completed plans for the 2017 observing campaign, about half of the research time for SOFIA will run the gamut from studies of planets to observations of comets and asteroids orbiting other stars and supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies beyond our own. The other half will focus on star formation and the interstellar medium, the areas of dust and gas in the universe, including a vast turbulent region encircling the center of our Milky Way galaxy.