BBC:
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA,
is a 15-ton telescope mounted in the back of a converted Boeing
747. The telescope can see in both the visible and IR spectra.
The first of SOFIA's images of the Orion nebula were released
in late December, and James De Buizer of the Universities Space
Research Association and colleagues examined the data, focusing
on the region around the Becklin-Neugebauer object, one of the
brightest IR objects in the sky. The object itself was thought
to be the main source of the nebula's IR emission, but the new
images show that something else they were previously unaware
of—perhaps a small protocluster of stars—is shining
very brightly in the IR there. SOFIA is a user facility;
scientists can propose experiments and get time in the air to
pursue them. A new call is out for the next year of
missions.
