1. The SOFIA Observatory at the Start of Routine Science Operations : Mission capabilities and performance
- Author
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Douglas Hoffman, Peter T. Zell, Allan W. Meyer, Jürgen Wolf, William D. Vacca, Erin C. Smith, Maureen L. Savage, Elizabeth Moore, Eric B. Burgh, B-G Andersson, Hans Zinnecker, Stefan Teufel, Jeffrey Van Cleve, William T. Reach, Scott R. Miller, Alfred Krabbe, Jeff Homan, Ting C. Tseng, Geoffrey Ediss, Stephen C. Jensen, Thomas L. Roellig, John Rasmussen, Randolf Klein, Charles Kaminski, Rick Brewster, Andrew L. Helton, John E. Vaillancourt, Enrico Pfueller, Manuel Wiedemann, Ehsan Talebi, Oliver Zeile, Adwin Boogert, Sybil Adams, Julie Schonfeld, Jeanette Le, Eddie Zavala, S. Shenoy, William B. Latter, J. T. Radomski, Yannick Lammen, Andreas Reinacher, Jim De Buizer, Donald J. Nickison, Daniel Kozarsky, J. W. Miles, Randy Grashuis, Walter E. Miller, Ravi Sankrit, Nancy McKown, Brent R. Cobleigh, Maura Fujieh, Riccardo Melchiorri, Pasquale Temi, Göran Sandell, Michael A. K. Gross, Kortney Opshaug, Erick T. Young, Pamela M. Marcum, Edward Harmon, Eric E. Becklin, Edward W. Dunham, Ralph Y. Shuping, Michael Hutwohl, Ulrich Lampater, Joseph D. Adams, Holger Jakob, Christian Engfer, and Steven Culp
- Subjects
Physics ,Image quality ,Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Photometer ,law.invention ,Telescope ,Shear layer ,Space and Planetary Science ,Observatory ,law ,Image motion ,Astronomical interferometer ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,Remote sensing - Abstract
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has recently concluded a set of engineering flights for Observatory performance evaluation. These in-flight opportunities are viewed as a first comprehensive assessment of the Observatory's performance and are used to guide future development activities, as well as to identify additional Observatory upgrades. Pointing stability was evaluated, including the image motion due to rigid-body and flexible-body telescope modes as well as possible aero-optical image motion. We report on recent improvements in pointing stability by using an active mass damper system installed on the telescope. Measurements and characterization of the shear layer and cavity seeing, as well as image quality evaluation as a function of wavelength have also been performed. Additional tests targeted basic Observatory capabilities and requirements, including pointing accuracy, chopper evaluation and imager sensitivity. This paper reports on the data collected during these flights and presents current SOFIA Observatory performance and characterization., Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure, and 2 tables; accepted by ApJS
- Published
- 2014
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