NASA’s Airborne Observatory Discovers Water on Sunlit Surface of Moon
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that…
SOFIA
Magnetic Fields May Help Solve Mysteries at the Center of Our Galaxy That We Can’t Explain With Gravity
The area around the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy is dominated by gravity, but it’s not the only force…
NASA’s Telescope on an Airplane – SOFIA – Finds Clues Hidden in Pluto’s Haze
When the New Horizons spacecraft passed by Pluto in 2015, one of the many fascinating features its images revealed was that this small, frigid world…
SOFIA’s Infrared View of the Skies Uncovers Massive Newborn Stars and Celestial Magnetic Fields
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, studies the universe with infrared light. That’s a range of wavelengths on the infrared spectrum, from those measuring…
Shedding Light on a Galactic Mystery That Has Long Puzzled Scientists
Our Milky Way galaxy has an elegant spiral shape with long arms filled with stars, but exactly how it took this form has long puzzled…
Uncovering the Secrets of the Swan Nebula From a Telescope Flying on a Boeing 747
One of the brightest and most massive star-forming regions in our galaxy, the Omega, or Swan, Nebula, came to resemble the shape resembling a swan’s…
Telescope on Airplane Captures Never Seen Before Details of Our Milky Way Galaxy
SOFIA Reveals New View of Milky Way’s Center NASA has captured an extremely crisp infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Spanning…
SOFIA Reveals What May Be Keeping Milky Way’s Black Hole Quiet
Supermassive black holes exist at the center of most galaxies, and our Milky Way is no exception. But many other galaxies have highly active black…
Astronomers View Cosmic Light Show of Star Formation
When massive stars — many times larger than our Sun— are born, they shine hot and bright before eventually exploding as supernovas. They release so…
SOFIA Explores Supergalactic Wind, Provides Clues to Evolution of Galaxies
The Cigar Galaxy (M82) is famous for its extraordinary speed in making new stars, with stars being born 10 times faster than in the Milky…
SOFIA Reveals Clues to the Evolution of Universe
A compilation of scientific results from The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, reveal new clues to how stars form and galaxies evolve, and closer…
SOFIA Observations of Supernova 1987A Surprise Astronomers
Dust particles form as dying red giant stars throw off material and become part of interstellar clouds of various sizes, densities and temperatures. This cosmic…
SOFIA Lifts the Veil on Star Formation in the Orion Nebula
The stellar wind from a newborn star in the Orion Nebula is preventing more new stars from forming nearby, according to new research using NASA’s…
Stellar Wind is Preventing More Stars From Forming in the Orion Nebula
The stellar wind from a newborn star in the Orion Nebula is preventing more new stars from forming nearby, according to new research using NASA’s…
Hubble and SOFIA Take a Close Look at Comet 46P
As the brilliant comet 46P/Wirtanen streaked across the sky, NASA telescopes caught it on camera from multiple angles. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope photographed comet 46P/Wirtanen…
SOFIA Unravels the Mysterious Formation of Star Clusters
The sun, like all stars, was born in a giant cold cloud of molecular gas and dust. It may have had dozens or even hundreds…
SOFIA Observations Reveal Possible Key to Black Hole Activity
Collimated jets provide astronomers with some of the most powerful evidence that a supermassive black hole lurks in the heart of most galaxies. Some of…
SOFIA Helps Unravel Mysteries of Star-Forming Regions in Our Galaxy
Astronomers are observing star-forming regions in our galaxy with NASA’s flying telescope, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, to understand the processes and environments…