You don't always have a rocket to do rocket science. Sometimes a mere airplane will do – that is, a mere Boeing 747 toting a 17-ton, 9-foot wide telescope named SOFIA.
"SOFIA is set to attain some spectacular science," says scientist."For instance, this telescope will help us figure out how planets form and how our own solar system came to be."
And as a portable observatory, it can fly anywhere, anytime. SOFIA can move into position to capture especially interesting astronomical events such as stellar occultations (when celestial objects cross in front of background stars), while ground-based telescopes fastened to the "wrong" geographic locations on Earth's surface miss the show. SOFIA will fly above the veil of water vapor that surrounds Earth to take a wide-eyed look at the cosmos.
"SOFIA can able to locate the 'planetary snowline,' where water vapor turns to ice in the disk of dust and gas around young stars," says project scientist.
"SOFIA will also be able to pin down where basic building blocks like oxygen, methane, and carbon dioxide are located within the protoplanetary disk."Unlike these space-based scopes, SOFIA can "head back to the barn" periodically for instruments to be repaired, adjusted, or even swapped out for new and improved science instruments – keeping pace with cutting edge science from a "mere" airplane.