SOFIA Airborne Observatory Tweetup, NASA Ames

ian.kluft.com / pics / sofia-20110914 /

I was selected as an attendee for the NASA Tweetup showing the SOFIA Airbone Observatory at NASA Ames Research Center on October 14, 2011. SOFIA stands for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. It's a heavily modified Boeing 747SP with an infrared telescope. It flies at 41,000 which is above 99% of the water vapor in the atmosphere that interferes with infrared astronomy from the ground. It carries a bigger telescope than any space telescopes yet. And it has the advantage over space telescopes that it comes back home each time where it can be maintained or upgraded.

The purpose of a tweetup event like this is to share the experience of a VIP tour with the public via participants who post about it on Twitter. The idea is participants selected for interest in the subject are bound to enjoy it and tell the world about it. In this case, it came a day before SOFIA will be open to the public for more limited but still free tours, and helped gain attention for that.

Thanks to NASA Ames staff who put on this Tweetup. I really enjoyed it. And apparently I wasn't the only one - everyone's tweets were saying similar things after the event.

(This is an abridged version of the slide show. You can see all the pictures if you want.

See also...

I had previously seen SOFIA in May 2009 in its hangar in Palmdale. Here are my pictures.
Official list of SOFIA Tweetup attendees by NASA Ames
Unofficial list of SOFIA Tweetup attendees at the NASATweet.com wiki
Carl Reisinger's SOFIA Tweetup photos on Flickr

all

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20111014042924-img_6123.jpg - 2011:10:14 10:29:24

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20111014044202-img_6128.jpg - 2011:10:14 10:42:01

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20111014045802-img_6133.jpg - 2011:10:14 10:58:00

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20111014050836-img_6140.jpg - 2011:10:14 11:08:36

20111014050840-img_6141.jpg - 2011:10:14 11:08:40

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SOFIA Airborne Observatory Tweetup, NASA Ames - October 14, 2011