Flying telescope gives deeper view of Orion nebula

BBC : The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, is a 15-ton telescope mounted in the back of a converted Boeing 747. The telescope can see in both the visible and IR spectra. The first of SOFIA’s images of the Orion nebula were released in late December, and James De Buizer of the Universities Space Research Association and colleagues examined the data, focusing on the region around the Becklin-Neugebauer object, one of the brightest IR objects in the sky. The object itself was thought to be the main source of the nebula’s IR emission, but the new images show that something else they were previously unaware of—perhaps a small protocluster of stars—is shining very brightly in the IR there. SOFIA is a user facility; scientists can propose experiments and get time in the air to pursue them. A new call is out for the next year of missions.