sofia_nz_2015flitecamLogo IR Lab

Day Two - Orientation

US Antarctic Program Building
The US Antarctic Program facilities are not normally used in the winter time, so it is the perfect location to host SOFIA for its southern deployments.

Inside Antarctic Building
There is ample warehouse space to house all of the instruments and equipment which are required. Though the space can be a little bit on the cold side.

4 people walking on tarmac towards SOFIA
Outside, it's crisp and clear. We take our first trip out to the aircraft to see how things look. High visibility vests are required, since the flight line can be very active.

FORCAST instrument and counterweight rack installed on SOFIA
The FORCAST instrument, developed at Cornell, would be coming off of SOFIA soon. Unfortunately, it had a couple of flights scrubbed due to bad weather.

Tail of SOFIA and Moon Milky Way in Southern Hemisphere sky shot
No weather concerns right now! The moon rises over SOFIA, and the southern sky appears later in the evening.

Southern Sky Stars
[NOTE: Mouse over the image for annotation] Unlike Los Angeles, the skies are clear enough to see the Milky Way only 5 km (3.1 miles) outside of the airport. Even with the lights of Christchurch intruding, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) are barely visible to the camera in this long exposure image, but not at all to the naked eye.