NASA.gov brings you the latest images, videos and news from America's space agency. Please refresh the page and try again.Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. You will receive a verification email shortly.There was a problem. This image was released July 18, 2013.Christian Fischer, from the University of Stuttgart's Institute for Space Systems, works on the Field-Imaging Far-Infrared Line Spectrometer, or FIFI-LS, in the NASA SOFIA science laboratory prior to testing in preparation for the first observing flights in spring 2014.Christian Fischer checks the FIFI-LS that is cooled by liquid nitrogen and helium during testing. SOFIA, when cruising at around 40,000 – 45,0000 feet, flies above this vapor, allowing for crisp, clear images of space as seen in the infrared spectrum. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, is an extensively modified Boeing 747SP aircraft carrying a reflecting telescope with an effective diameter of 2.5 meters (100 inches). 2013; NASA/HST/STScI/AURA NY 10036. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor,
Ground-based infrared observations are impossible at 5.4 and 37 microns and normally very difficult at 24 microns even from high mountaintop observatories such as Mauna Kea due to absorption by water and other molecules in Earth's atmosphere. In February 2006, after cost increases from $185 million to $330 million,The maiden flight of SOFIA took place on April 26, 2007 at the L-3 Integrated Systems' (L-3 IS) Waco, Texas facility.On December 18, 2009, the SOFIA aircraft performed the first test flight in which the telescope door was fully opened. The aircraft is based at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, Calif. The white stripe in the infrared image is a region of relatively transparent clouds through which the warm interior of Jupiter can be seen.Orion Messier 42 region: SOFIA mid-infrared (19 and 37 micron) mosaic image.Researchers using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) have captured new images of a neighboring cluster of extremely luminous young stars embedded in dust cocoons.Get breaking space news and the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Thank you for signing up to Space. Successful missions are scheduled according to yearly cycles, with the first cycle corresponding to 2013. On the rain-soaked ramp at its deployment base at Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand. SOFIA is an 80/20 partnership of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), consisting of an extensively modified Boeing 747SP aircraft carrying a 2.7-meter (106 inch) reflecting telescope (with an effective diameter of 2.5 meters or 100 inches). Measurements at 31.5 microns, crucial for determining the temperature and other characteristics of the comet's material, cannot be made using ground-based telescopes.Christophe Risacher (left) and Karl Jacobs cool the GREAT spectrometer with a liquid cryogen in preparation for a flight of the SOFIA airborne observatory from Christchurch, New Zealand to study Southern Hemisphere celestial objects.NASA's SOFIA flying observatory is framed by a rainbow following a shower as it sits on a ramp at Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand during its first Southern Hemisphere deployment. The manufacturing of the telescope was subcontracted to the European industry. It looks out of a large door in the port side of the aircraft near the tail. The gallery is located at NASA Ames Research Center, Building 232. Once ready for use, observing flights were expected to be flown three or four nights a week.