NASA Mission Update: SOFIA

Date- 20th Feb 09 Source- http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/ 'Visible light - the light you see with your eyes - reveals only one part of the universe. When clouds of gas and dust block the light emitted by distant objects, astronomers can explore by using radiation from elsewhere on the electromagnetic spectrum: in x-ray, radio, and other wavelengths. The infrared is where the energy from many astronomical objects can be detected. In fact, star formation regions, centers of galaxies, and other celestial phenomena whose visible light can't get through the dust and gas clouds surrounding them can only be studied in the infrared. Astronomers will soon have at their disposal NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, the biggest and most powerful airborne observatory in the world.'