SOFIA’s maiden flight, known as “first light,” observed heat pouring out of Jupiter’s interior through holes in the clouds and peered through the dense dust clouds of the Messier 82 galaxy to catch a glimpse of tens of thousands of stars forming. The observatory was declared fully operational in 2014 — the equivalent to the launch of a space telescope — but it began making discoveries even while completing the testing of its instruments and telescope.
The modified Boeing 747SP flies a nearly 9-foot diameter telescope up to 45,000 feet in altitude, above 99% of the Earth's water vapor to get a clear view of the infrared universe not observable by ground-based telescopes. Its mobility also allows it to capture transitory events in astronomy over remote locations like the open ocean. Because SOFIA lands after each flight, it can be upgraded with the latest technology to respond to some of most pressing questions in science.
Using SOFIA, scientists detected the universe’s first type of molecule in space, unveiled new details about the birth and death of stars and planets, and explained what’s powering supermassive black holes, and how galaxies evolve and take shape, among other discoveries. Here are some of SOFIA’s top discoveries of the last decade:
The Universe’s First Type of Molecule Found at Last
Weighing a Galactic Wind Provides Clues to the Evolution of Galaxies
SOFIA found that the wind flowing from the center of the Cigar Galaxy (M82) is aligned along a magnetic field and transports a huge amount of material. Magnetic fields are usually parallel to the plane of the galaxy, but the wind is dragging it so it’s perpendicular. The powerful wind, driven by the galaxy's high rate of star birth, could be one of the mechanisms for material to escape the galaxy. Similar processes in the early universe would have affected the fundamental evolution of the first galaxies.
Nearby Planetary System Similar to Our Own
The planetary system around the star Epsilon Eridani, or eps Eri for
short, is the closest planetary system around a star similar to the
early Sun. SOFIA studied the infrared glow from the warm dust,
confirming that the system has an architecture remarkably similar to our solar system. Its material is arranged in at least one narrow belt near a Jupiter-sized planet.
Magnetic Fields May Be Feeding Active Black Holes
Magnetic fields in the Cygnus A galaxy are feeding material into the galaxy’s central black hole. SOFIA revealed that the invisible forces, shown as streamlines in this illustration, are trapping material close to the center of the galaxy where it is close enough the be devoured by the hungry black hole. However, magnetic fields in other galaxies may be preventing black holes from consuming material.
Magnetic Fields May Be Keeping Milky Way’s Black Hole Quiet
This image shows the ring of material around the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. SOFIA detected magnetic fields, shown as streamlines,
that may be channeling the gas into an orbit around the black hole,
rather than directly into it. This may explain why our galaxy’s black
hole is relatively quiet, while those in other galaxies are actively
consuming material.
“Kitchen Smoke” Molecules in Nebula Offer Clues to Building Blocks of Life
SOFIA found that the organic, complex molecules in the nebula NGC 7023 evolve into larger, more complex molecules when hit with radiation from nearby stars. Researchers were surprised to find that the radiation helped these molecules grow instead of destroying them. The growth of these molecules is one of the steps that could lead to the emergence of life under the right circumstances.
Dust Survives Obliteration in Supernova
SOFIA discovered that a supernova explosion can produce a substantial amount of the material from which planets like Earth can form. Infrared
observations of a cloud produced by a supernova 10,000 years
ago contains enough dust to make 7,000 Earths. Scientists now know that
material created by the first outward shock wave can survive the
subsequent inward “rebound” wave generated when the first collides with
surrounding interstellar gas and dust.
New View of Milky Way’s Center Reveals Birth of Massive Stars
SOFIA captured an extremely crisp infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
Spanning a distance of more than 600 light-years, this panorama reveals
details within the dense swirls of gas and dust in high resolution,
opening the door to future research into how massive stars are forming
and what’s feeding the supermassive black hole at our galaxy’s core.
What Happens When Exoplanets Collide
Known as BD +20 307, this double-star system is more than 300 light years from Earth likely had an extreme collision between rocky exoplanets.
A decade ago, observations of this system gave the first hints
of a collision when they found debris that was warmer than expected to
be around mature stars that are at least one billion years old. SOFIA’s
observations discovered the infrared brightness from the debris has
increased by more than 10%, a sign that there is now even more warm
dust and that a collision occurred relatively recently. A similar event
in our own solar system may have formed our Moon.
SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 106-inch diameter telescope. It is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center, DLR. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program, science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart. The aircraft is maintained and operated from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703, in Palmdale, California.
Media Contact
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.
Felicia Chou
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0257
felicia.chou@nasa.gov
