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Lubna Shirazi: When most people think of astronomy,

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they probably think of the planets, stars and galaxies

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the way we see them when we look at them in the night sky.

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It turns out that visible light only shows part

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of what's happening in our universe.

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Researchers use x-ray, ultraviolet, gamma ray, and infrared instruments

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to peer through the dust and gas to collect and analyze radiation

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emitted by objects in our universe.

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Join us as we discover how the SOFIA science team

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at NASA Ames Research Center is working with the world's largest

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airborne telescope to see deeper into our universe than ever before.

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(Music)

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Lubna: To tell us more about infrared astronomy,

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today we'll be meeting with SOFIA Project Scientist Pam Marcum.

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So Pam, what is infrared astronomy and why is it so important?

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Pam Marcum: Because of its longer wavelengths, infrared light is redder

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than the reddest color that the human eye can detect.

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And so astronomers must use special detectors in order to take pictures

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of astronomical objects at infrared wavelengths.

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The interesting, or useful, feature of infrared light

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is that infrared light is able to pass readily through materials,

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such as dense clouds of gas and dust, that would block

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other forms of radiation, like visible light.

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Lubna: So what types of things do astronomers like to look at?

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Pam: Things like stars that are much less massive than our own sun;

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stars that are like the sun but have progressed further along

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in their evolution, they are nearing the end of their life cycle;

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cooled material that has been spewed out by supernova explosions;

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planets; comets; shrouds of dust that surround hot newly formed stars

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inside that are actually heating up those little dust grains.

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Lubna: Can you give us an example of what something

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would actually look like in the infrared?

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Pam: Well, let me show you some pictures of the Orion constellation,

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specifically the Horsehead Nebula.

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The visible picture shows some really dark areas

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and those are actually dust clouds that are obscuring the visible light

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that's coming from the stars that lay behind the dust.

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In the near-infrared, you actually see many, many more stars, and in fact,

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the Horsehead Nebula has practically disappeared.

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And the reason for that is what you're seeing now is the infrared light

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going right past all of the dust.

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So you 're actually seeing the stars behind the dust.

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The mid-infrared has yet a different picture, same part of the sky,

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but here you're actually seeing the dust clouds themselves glowing.

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The dust is warmed at just the right temperature by those stars,

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to glow at just the right wavelength that the mid-infrared detector

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is actually able to see the dust.

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And here we see all three images side-by-side,

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and you can really see the differences just depending

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on what wavelength range you look at.

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And these different ways of looking at the same object really provide

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a lot of insight to astronomers when they're studying

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star formation processes.

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Lubna: Is infrared astronomy better that studying visible light?

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Pam: Well, infrared astronomy is complementary to studies

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at other wavelengths, including visible light.

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And each type of investigation at these different wavelengths

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comes with their own advantages as well as unique scientific insights.

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It turns out that water of all things, is an infrared astronomers worst enemy.

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Humidity in the earth's atmosphere absorbs infrared light,

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making observations at those wavelengths not possible

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even from the highest mountaintop.

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You know it's kind of ironic to think that an infrared photon

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may have been traveling through lots of interstellar dust and gas

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for thousands of years only to get stopped dead in its tracks

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once it enters the earth's atmosphere.

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Lubna: To tell us more about the SOFIA program, we'll be meeting

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with SOFIA Science Mission and Operations Director Erick Young.

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So Erick, what is SOFIA?

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ERICK YOUNG: SOFIA is the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.

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It's a very highly modified Boeing 747 that does observations in the infrared.

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And to really understand what we have with SOFIA,

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you have to think about and visualize what had to be done

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to the airplane to make this observatory.

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We start off with a Boeing 747,

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which is one of the largest passenger airplanes in the world.

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We have to cut a hole in the side of the airplane

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about the size of a garage door.

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Put in a telescope that's ten feet in diameter,

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and then have a control system that will point this telescope

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and keep it steady to the angle of a dime at a distance of a mile.

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In order to accomplish that, we've had a large team

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from a lot of different organizations involved.

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This included NASA Dryden Flight Research Center,

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NASA Ames Research Center

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and the German Aerospace Center.

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Lubna: What makes SOFIA different from other observatories

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doing infrared astronomy?

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Erick: Well, the most obvious thing, of course,

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is that it's in an airplane and it's the biggest flying observatory in the world.

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It is an airplane that flies well above

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most of the water vapor in the earth's atmosphere.

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And water vapor as Pam mentioned is the real problem

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with doing infrared observations because it blocks lots of the spectrum.

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With SOFIA, there is a huge chunk called the mid and far-infrared

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which is only visible if you get above the earth's atmosphere,

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and that makes it unique.

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Another unique capability of SOFIA is the ability

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to fly where the observations have to be made.

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Lubna: Can you give us an example of the kind of science SOFIA is doing?

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Erick: Well SOFIA does all kinds of science for astronomy.

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The observations on SOFIA are open to astronomers all over the world.

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The very best proposals that are judged by other astronomers to be on SOFIA

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are the ones that get observed.

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SOFIA Flight Crew Member: We're opening the door.

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Erick: And so that means that SOFIA does observations

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from looking at things within our own solar system, to nearby stars,

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to stars that are being formed, all the way out to distant galaxies.

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It's only limited by the innovation and really great imagination

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of all the astronomers in the world.

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Lubna: To tell us more about the work of the SOFIA science team,

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we're meeting with NASA Ames Center Director and astronomer Pete Worden.

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So Pete, as an astronomer, what do you find most exciting about SOFIA?

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Pete Worden: SOFIA is a state of the art instrument.

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For the first time we're going to get high resolution information

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in the infrared part of the spectral region.

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This will revolutionize our understanding of how stars formed,

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how planets formed and how the very stuff of life forms.

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Lubna: So who gets to fly on the plane?

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Pete: The really cool thing about SOFIA is that,

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not only researchers get to fly on it, students get to fly on it,

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not only graduate students and undergraduates working on this,

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but teachers get to fly on it.

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The nice thing about an airplane, which is different from a spacecraft,

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is that everybody gets to fly on it and gets to work with the instruments.

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So it gives people not only a chance to interact with the science they're doing

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in a much more direct way, but it also gives people a chance

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to feel the excitement of discovery.

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Lubna: SOFIA is conducting a vast amount of science,

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what do you see as its ultimate goal?

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Pete: I think the biggest goal is to really begin to understand

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the early phases of star formation, planetary formation

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and the formation of molecules out of which life emerges.

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You know, the whole field of astrobiology, how life began,

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where else is it in the universe, and what its future is,

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is tied up in the kind of discoveries that SOFIA will make.

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So it is a major step forward in understanding

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who we are and where we came from.

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(Sound of large airplane flying overhead)

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Lubna: Thanks for joining us.

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And meet us again on our next Destination Innovation.

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(Music)

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Lubna: For more information on NASA's SOFIA program,

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please visit nasa dot gov slash sofia.