Quine Blog
Miguel H. Quine – 4/10/2017
Previous analysis
for the research project: “ NASA Science Instruments for the Next Space
Exploration Missions”
Sept. 7, 2016
NASA Selects Next Generation Spectrometer for SOFIA
Flying Observatory
A team from NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has been selected to develop a new,
third-generation facility science instrument for the Stratospheric Observatory
for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA. The principal investigator, Samuel Harvey
Moseley will lead the team to develop the High Resolution Mid-InfrarEd
Spectrometer (HIRMES).
The HIRMES spectrometer is optimized
to detect neutral atomic oxygen, water, as well as normal and deuterated (or
“heavy”) hydrogen molecules at infrared wavelengths between 28 and 112 microns
(a micron is one-millionth of a meter). These wavelengths are key to
determining how water vapor, ice, and oxygen combine at different times during
planet formation, and will enable new observations of how these elements
combine with dust to form the mass that may one day become a planet.
The SOFIA observatory is a Boeing
747SP. SOFIA is the
largest airborne observatory in the world, capable of making observations that
are impossible for even the largest and highest ground-based telescopes. During
its planned 20-year lifetime, SOFIA also will inspire the development of new
scientific instrumentation and foster the education of young scientists and
engineers.
SOFIA
studies many different kinds of astronomical objects and phenomena, but some of
the most interesting are:
- Star birth and death
- Formation of new solar systems
- Identification of complex molecules in space
- Planets, comets and asteroids in our solar system
- Nebulae and dust in galaxies (or, Ecosystems of galaxies)
- Black holes at the center of galaxies
SOFIA's
instruments — cameras, spectrometers, and photometers — operate in the near-,
mid- and far-infrared wavelengths, some better suited to studying a particular
phenomena, while others are general purpose but capable of acquiring data
simultaneously with another instrument.
Jan.
19, 2017
Don’t
Judge an Asteroid by its Cover: Mid-infrared Data from SOFIA Shows Ceres’ True
Composition
New
observations show that Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt is covered
by a thin coating of dust coming from a nearby asteroid. Using data primarily
from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, a team of
astronomers has detected the presence of substantial amounts of material on the
surface of Ceres that appear to be fragments of other asteroids containing
mostly silicate-rich dust particles.
Ceres
and asteroids are not the only context where material transported from
elsewhere has affected the surfaces of solar system bodies. Dramatic examples
include Saturn’s two-faced moon Iapetus and the red
material seen by New Horizons on Pluto’s moon Charon.
Planetary scientists also hypothesize that material from comets and asteroids
provided a final veneer to the then-forming Earth that included substantial
amounts of water plus the organic substances of the biosphere.
References
Proudfit,
L. (2016, September 07). NASA Selects Next Generation Spectrometer for SOFIA
Flying Observatory. Retrieved April 10, 2017, from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-selects-next-generation-spectrometer-for-sofia-flying-observatory/
Bell,
K. (2016, November 15). Flying Observatory Expanding Frontiers in the Solar
System & Beyond. Retrieved April 10, 2017, from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-flying-observatory-expanding-new-frontiers-in-the-solar-system-and-beyond
Proudfit,
L. (2015, April 21). SOFIA Overview. Retrieved April 10, 2017, from https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/SOFIA/overview/index.html
Bell,
K. (2016, October 05). SOFIA Detects Collapsing Clouds Becoming Young Suns.
Retrieved April 10, 2017, from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/sofia-detects-collapsing-clouds-becoming-young-suns
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