The SOFIA Telescope is the biggest flying telescope in the world and is housed aboard a specially adapted Boeing 747 aeroplane.
NASA released a modest but stunning selection of some of the cosmic pictures compiled using SOFIA data on Thursday, as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) plane took out on its last voyage. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) posted on Instagram that the SOFIA Telescope, the biggest airborne telescope, has performed 921 flights since 2010. SOFIA is housed in a modified Boeing 747 aircraft.
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In the name of science, the flying telescope has taken flight with crews of scientists on many round-trips. As NASA put it, "Cruising at nearly 41,000 ft (12,500 m) in the dark of night and twilight of morning, SOFIA has taken breathtaking observations of a plethora of celestial objects."
The first picture is of the galaxy Centaurus A, which the US space agency identified as having orange and dark red dust lanes comprising a central column and a faint shell of blue around its edges, as described in the article. The Orion Nebula is shown in stunning detail in the second article, which has a three-dimensional image of the nebula that displays its intricate structure, including a "bubble" cleared of gas and dust by a strong star wind.
The Cigar Galaxy is seen in the third picture. "Red streamlines follow outflows caused by an intense nuclear starburst. Around the centre, a ring of starlight appears grey with hints of hydrogen appearing in red and dust in yellow, "Words from NASA. The space agency also shared that although image fourth depicts the Omega Nebula, image fifth shows the SOFIA mission disappearing into the twilight.
Space Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a joint project between the German Space Agency (DLR) and NASA. SOFIA was first conceived of as a mission back in 1996. Its first voyage was in 2010, but it wasn't until 2014 that it could be considered fully operational. Water on the Moon's bright side was uncovered with the help of the flying observatory in the year 2020.
SOFIA also had a fascinating 2022. The SOFIA telescope made a new discovery of water on the Moon's surface in August. They discovered water in the Moretus Crater area, which is near to the initial discovery site in the Clavius Crater on the Moon.
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 "Photo: NASA")
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