SOFIA in flight with the telescope cavity 100% open.

FORCAST team members (left to right) Mary Beth Wilhelm, Joe Adams, and George Gull securing FORCAST to the floor of its shock-absorbing crate.

 FORCAST in its custom-built crate, ready for shipment to California.

 Here I am using a vacuum leak detector to test the cryostat prior to its first fill of liquid nitrogen. In order to hold the very cold cryogenic liquids a cryostat (aka thermos) must hold a strong vacuum. (Photo by George Gull)

 George Gull transfers liquid nitrogen to the FORCAST cryostat (thermos). The chilly liquid (77 K, -321 F, -196 C) cools the internal parts of the camera. The nitrogen is boiling as it first touches the still-warm inside of the camera, making the white vapor plume.

 Open the door to the FORCAST instrument lab at DAOF and you are greeted by the nose of SOFIA only 50 feet away.

 SOFIA is pushed out of the hangar onto the tarmac for re-fueling prior to its February 11 test flight.

FORCAST assembled in the DAOF instrument lab. The cryostat (left, red cylinder) holds the camera optics and imaging detector. Half of the cryostat holds liquid nitrogen and liquid helium to cool the camera to its operating temperature.

 FORCAST installed on the SOFIA telescope (Photo by George Gull). FORCAST is the red cylinder with gold-colored electronics boxes attached. The telescope assembly is blue.

FORCAST team leader, Terry Herter, operating the camera from the "PI Rack" instrument console on SOFIA.

 Happy FORCAST team members standing with FORCAST installed on the SOFIA telescope. From left to right: Chuck Henderson, Terry Herter, and George Gull.

 FORCAST team members Joe Adams (sitting in the middle) and Justin Schoenwald (facing away) discuss SOFIA pre-flight tests with FORCAST Instrument Scientist, Jim De Buizer. Note that they are wearing headphones in order to communicate with each other and people elsewhere on the (sometimes very loud) aircraft.

Jupiter: Composite (false color) infrared image of Jupiter from SOFIA’s first light. Observations were at infrared wavelengths of 5.4 (blue), 24 (green) and 37 microns (red), made by Cornell University’s FORCAST camera. A recent visible-wavelength picture of approximately the same side of Jupiter is shown for comparison.  The white stripe in the infrared image is a region of relatively transparent clouds through which the warm interior of Jupiter can be seen. (Visible light image credit:  Anthony Wesley)

MORE DETAILS: Composite (false color) infrared image of Jupiter from SOFIA’s first light flight taken at infrared wavelengths of 5.4 (blue), 24 (green) and 37 microns (red), with Cornell University’s FORCAST camera. A recent visual-wavelength picture of approximately the same side of Jupiter is shown for comparison.  The white stripe in the infrared image is a region of relatively transparent clouds through which the warm interior of Jupiter can be seen. Visible light shows us the detailed structure of the surfaces (tops) of the clouds on Jupiter while the infrared image shows us the distribution of different atmospheric components and physical characteristics of material deep under the cloud surfaces. (Visible light image credit:  Anthony Wesley)

Galaxy, M82: Composite (false color) infrared image of the central portion of galaxy M82, from SOFIA’s first light flight, taken at wavelengths of 19 (blue), 31 (green) and 37 microns (red). The middle inset image shows the same portion of the galaxy at visual wavelengths.  The infrared image views past the stars and dust clouds apparent in the visible-wavelength image into the star-forming heart of the galaxy. The long dimension of the inset boxes is about 5400 light years. (Visible light image credit:  N. A. Sharp/ NOAO/AURA/NSF)

MORE DETAILS: Composite (false color) infrared image of the central portion of galaxy M82, from SOFIA’s first light flight, taken at [infrared] wavelengths of 19 (blue), 31 (green) and 37 microns (red). The middle inset image shows the same portion of the galaxy at visible wavelengths.  The infrared image views through the stars and dust clouds apparent in the visible-wavelength image deep into the star-forming heart of the galaxy, which is totally invisible when viewed only in visible light.  Where the visible light images show features like stars and dust in the outer regions of the M82 galaxy, the infrared image reveals  the central regions of the galaxy where stars are forming much faster than they do in our own Milky Way galaxy. The long dimension of the inset boxes is equivalent to about 5400 light years at the distance of M82. (Visible light image credit:  N. A. Sharp/ NOAO/AURA/NSF)

 SOFIA flight plan for our November 10, 2010, observatory characterization flight. DAOF (Palmdale, CA) is the white dot at the top of the image. The faint dotted line is the coast of southern California and Baja, Mexico. The light blue/green lines are the flights legs, each allowing observations of a single star.

 This is the Science Instrument rack containing our data acquisition computer systems. We also have laptop computers that we use to do quick analysis of the data to make sure we are getting the required quality. Flight time on SOFIA is expensive so we make the most of it.

 I snapped this shot just before we boarded SOFIA for our observatory characterization flight on November 18.

 A look out the window of SOFIA as we taxied across the runway at DAOF site 9.

 This is a view looking back towards the telescope (blue structure in the background). You can see the telescope team at their console (left), the SI (science instrument, in this case FORCAST) team at center, and the mission director at right.

SOFIA takes off from Palmdale, CA, on November 18 2010. (Photo credit: Neill Callis)

Headed for the last of the observatory characterization tests at 43,000 feet.

Casey Byrne (IC Physics '13) on the SOFIA flight deck. Monday, June 3, 2013.

Casey Byrne (IC Physics '13) with FORCAST on SOFIA

Casey Byrne (IC Physics '13) at at work on the data analysis computer on SOFIA

Rob Lewis (IC Physics '13) with FORCAST camera on SOFIA 

Rob Lewis (IC Physics '13) and Luke Keller dwarfed by SOFIA