Last month, the SOFIA telescope left Ōtautahi Christchurch for the final time, heading for retirement in California. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) isn't your usual telescope: it's installed on a Boeing 747 jet plane with a hole cut in its side.
SOFIA in flight with the telescope door open. Photo: NASA / Jim Ross
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Since 2013, the SOFIA telescope took off from Christchurch to cruise the clear southern skies and capture observations of comets, stars, and planetary atmospheres. Data collected by SOFIA contributed to the October 2020 finding of water on the surface of the moon.
As a send-off for SOFIA, which officially wraps up its mission on 30 September, we're replaying an episode from September 2017. Alison Ballance reports from aboard one of SOFIA's research flights.
