Posted on 03/20/2022 9:16:00 PM PDT by BenLurkin
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) landed at the Santiago International Airport in Chile on March 18. The Boeing 747SP will conduct experiments for the next two weeks, and it is the first time it has landed in South America.
SOFIA is temporarily changing its base of operations from Palmdale, California, to Chile to observe celestial objects that can only be seen from Southern Hemisphere latitudes, said NASA in a statement.
SOFIA will operate eight science flights from Santiago International Airport during the next two weeks. The team will primarily observe the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds during the deployment, which are two galaxies that are our Milky Way’s closest galactic neighbors...
SOFIA had its first test flight in 2009, and one year later, on May 26, 2010, SOFIA delivered its first image of the solar system. The telescope is a joint project between NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which is why it has both flags painted on its fuselage.
DLR provides the telescope, scheduled aircraft maintenance (with Lufthansa Technik), and support for the mission. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley manages the SOFIA program, science, and mission operations. The Boeing 747-SP is maintained and operated by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center Building 703 in Palmdale, California.
(Excerpt) Read more at simpleflying.com ...
Maybe one of those industrious Chilean theft crews managed to cart it home to their Santiago slum.
Yeah! *Government* Science!
I was down there once for a telescope system installation. They all over there place there. Apparently one of the best places for a telescope. The area I was in was like Southern California coast without all the people.
Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR)
The Webb Telescope ALREADY revealed the existence of a dozen or so more galaxies, just around one tiny star- and it is not even done with calibration.
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