Destination Innovation - Episode 2 - SOFIA

Destination Innovation is a new series that explores the research, science and other projects underway at the NASA Ames Research Center.

Episode 2 focuses on the SOFIA Mission, an airborne telescope that uses infrared astronomy to peer deeper into the Universe than ever before.

SOFIA, or the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is NASA's highly-modified Boeing 747SP aircraft with a 100-inch (2.5 meter) diameter mirror installed at the rear of the aircraft. The observatory allows astronomers to image the universe in the enables the analysis of infrared light to study the formation of stars and planets; chemistry of interstellar gases; composition of comets, asteroids and planets; and supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies.