A Night on SOFIA

In July 2016 Stuart had the rare opportunity to fly on NASA's Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a Boeing 747 with a 2.5m telescope that flies above 40,000 ft and most of the atmospheric water vapour that absorbs far-infrared radiation. In this talk he will outline what it took to get SOFIA off the ground, and illustrate what observing with the world's only flying telescope is like.

Dr Stuart Ryder

heads the International Telescopes Support Office (ITSO) at the Australian Astronomical Observatory in North Ryde. ITSO coordinates Australian usage of large offshore telescopes including the Gemini 8m telescopes in Hawaii and Chile; the Keck 10m telescopes in Hawaii; the Magellan 6.5m telescopes in Chile; and the Blanco 4m telescope in Chile. Stuart uses laser guide star adaptive optics systems on the Gemini and Keck telescopes to find the "missing" supernovae in dusty starburst galaxies.