what you (probably) don’t know about sofia · sofia spans the wavelength gap between jwst and...

What you (probably) don’t know about SOFIA

23 March 2017

HaroldWYorkeDirector,SOFIAScienceMissionOpera:ons

Setting the Stage •  SOFIAisnotaspacemission

– Hardwarerepairs&updatesareinprincipalpossibleonarela:velyshort:mescale

– Newinstrumentscanbeaddedtoaddresscurrentrelevantscienceques:ons

–  SeveralimprovementstoSOFIAopera:onssinceprimemissionstart2014haveincreasedefficiency

–  SOFIAyesterday<SOFIAtoday<SOFIAtomorrow•  OnegoalofthisworkshopistoincreaseawarenessofNASA’supcomingROSES(step1)callforthenextSOFIAinstrument(s)

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

SOFIA Operational Capacity Ramping Up!

•  ProgramflightplansapproachingfullopslevelsinCycle4&5(darkbars)

•  Programdemonstra:ngincreaseinannualscienceflightexecu:onandannualResearchHours(lightbars)

•  PlannedCycle5ResearchHoures:mateisreduceddueto:

-  LowHAWC+hold:me(~5.5hrs)whichaffects~25%ofCycle5

-  NewupGREATcommissioningrequirements

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

SOFIA’s Longevity?

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

•  SOFIA'sprimemissionisdefinedasfiveyearsfromtheendofthefiscalyearduringwhichSOFIAenteredPhaseE(i.e.2014)–  TheprimemissionphaseendsSeptember30,2019

•  Longtermplansforsustainmentoftheobservatoryshallpreservethecapabilityfor20yearsofopera:ons–  i.e.throughMay2034–  Con:nua:onofmissiondependsonoutcomeoftriennialSeniorReviews(requiredofallNASAmissions)

•  SOFIAiscurrently40+yearsold–  SOFIAprojecthascannibalizedseveral747-SPsforspareparts(e.g.12jetenginesonhand)

Cycle 5: SOFIA is operating at 100%

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

•  21outof21plannedSOFIAflightscompletedinCycle5– Onecon:ngencyflightexercisedaherfaultysmokedetectorcausedflightcancella:on

•  Highnumberofcon:ngencyflightsincludedinCycle5plan:20– Usedifscienceflighthastobecancelled–  Strategicallyplacedincalendartoop:mizeu:lity

•  Sparepartsonhandshouldfurtherreducedown:mes– AsparejetengineforSOFIAwillbekeptinNewZealand

Cycle 6: Further Optimizations Considered

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•  Mul:pledeploymentstoNewZealandwithsingleinstrumentduringperiodApril-September– NewZealandoffersgreaterflexibilityforflightplans(fewerrestrictedzones;mostlyoverwater)

– NewZealandwinterofferslowwatervapor(<10μm)– NewZealandoffersaccesstoGalac:cCenterandMagellanicClouds

•  Increasedflightcadence:con:nuous7flights/week•  Quickerinstrumentswaps:36hours,insteadof3days•  Miscellaneousop:miza:onsofavailable:meinairtoincrease:meonsciencetargets

SOFIA is important for FIR Science

JWST will offer unprecedented resolution and sensitivity from long-wavelength (orange-red) visible light to the mid-infrared (0.6 to 28 µm). ALMA offers ~0.01 arcsecond resolution in its highest frequency bands. Band 10 (planned) will extend to 950 GHz (≈ 320 µm). SOFIA is the only observatory that currently operates in 28-320 µm wavelength range. There is great science potential for observing in ALMA-JWST gap.

HW Yorke, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena using HWYplt V2.5 package

Wavelength [ µm ]

Angu

lar R

esolu

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[ a

rcse

c ]

Frequency [ THz ]

1 10 100 1000

0.1110100

0.01

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100

JWST

SOFIA

ALMA

16 km10 km

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SOFIAspanstheWavelengthGapbetweenJWSTandALMA

Where is SOFIA’s “Sweet Spot”? •  SOFIAistheonlyobservatoryin28µm–320µmrange•  Withitswarmop:cs(~220K)SOFIAsensi:vityislimited

–  220Kblackbodyemissivitypeaksat~18μm–  Op:cs,supportstructure,atmospherecontributetobackground

•  Chopbetweentarget&emptysky•  Subtracttwolargenumbersforsignal•  Numbersta:s:cslimittheore:calsensi:vity

•  Alterna:vely,reducebackgroundradia:onFνΔνbyreducingbandwidthΔν=>highresolu:onspectroscopy–  e.g.GREAT(heterodyne),EXES,HIRMES–  Detailedstudiesofemissionandabsorp:onlines–  Emissionlinemaps

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

How do SOFIA’s Instruments Measure up to the Sweet Spot?

•  GREAT(GermanREceiverforAstronomyatTerahertzFrequencies)–  PIclassinstrument(RolfGüsten)– Highresolu:onspectra(uptoR=108)–  Severalfrequencywindowsinthe1.5‒5THzrange(60µm–200µm)

– Diffrac:onlimited(14”at158μm)– MappingspeedofC+line50xfasterthanHerschel-HIFIduetomul:-pixelarrayandimprovednoisetemperatureofreceiver

–  Thefuture:LFA-HFA(withdualcryocoolersystem),4GREAT,Mband,tbdaddi:onalbands

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

How do SOFIA’s Instruments Measure up to the Sweet Spot?

•  EXES(Echelon-Cross-EchelleSpectrograph)–  PIclassinstrument(Ma}Richter)–  Operatesinthe4.5‒28.3μmwavelengthregion–  High(R≈50,000‒100,000),medium(R≈5000‒20,000)andlow(R≈1000‒3000)spectralresolu:on

–  Notdiffrac:onlimited;reducedthroughputtospectrometerbecauseofsmallslitwidthwrtbeam

–  JWST-MIRI:diffrac:on-limited,5‒28.5μm,1.photometricimaging,2.coronagraphy,3.single-sourcelow-spectralresolvingpower(R~100)spectroscopy,and4.medium-resolvingpower(R~1500to3500)integralfieldspectroscopy

–  EXES’futureniche:highresolu:onmid-IRspectroscopy,brightsources

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

How do SOFIA’s Instruments Measure up to the Sweet Spot?

•  FORCAST(FaintObjectinfraRedCAmerafortheSOFIATelescope)– Dual-channelmid-infraredcamerawith256x256pixeldetectors

–  Lowresolu:onspectraR=200throughgrisms– Wavelengthrange:5µm–40µm– Diffrac:onlimitedonlyatlongestwavelengths–  FORCAST’sFuture:JWST-MIRIcovers5µm–28.5µm

•  HAWC+covers40μm–300μmwithoutspectroscopy•  FIFI-LScovers50μm–200μmwithspectroscopy•  HIRMESwillcover25μm–122μmwithspectroscopy

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

How do SOFIA’s Instruments Measure up to the Sweet Spot?

•  FIFI-LS(FarInfraredField-ImagingLineSpectrometer)–  Dualintegralfield(5x5)spectrometers

•  shortwavelengthspectrometer(bluechannel)operatesatwavelengthsbetween50μmand125μm

•  longwavelengthspectrometer(redchannel)coverstherangefrom105μmupto200μm

–  EachchannelhasR~1000–2000–  Pixelsizelimited(12”forredchannel;6”forblue)–  UnlikeHerschel-PACS,FIFI-LShastwogra:ngsandcanobservetwowavelengthrangessimultaneouslyandindependentlyofeachother

–  FIFI-LS’Future:FIFI-LSprovidesauniquecapabilityinSOFIA’swavelengthsweetspot;improvementsviaMKIDs?

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

How do SOFIA’s Instruments Measure up to the Sweet Spot?

•  FLITECAM(FirstLightInfraredTEstCAMera)–  1.0–5.5μmphotometer&mediumresolu:onspectrometer

–  Setoffiltersforimaging•  OnefilterwheelforJ,H,K,LandM•  Secondfilterwheelholdsaselec:onofnarrow-bandimagingfiltersincludingPa-α,Pa-αcon:nuum,3.07μmH2Oice,3.3μmPAH,L-narrowandM-narrow

•  Addi:onalsor:ngfiltersforgrismwavebandselec:on–  Threegrismsprovidemediumresolu:on(R≈1500)spectraoveren:rewavelengthrange

–  Future:FLITECAMwillnotbeofferedinCycle6CfP

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

How do SOFIA’s Instruments Measure up to the Sweet Spot?

•  HIPO(HighSpeedImagingPhotometerforOcculta:ons)–  FiltersetincludestheJohnson(UBVRI)andSloan(u’g’r’I’z’)filtersaswellasafilterformethaneat890nm

– AlthoughnotofferedinCycle5CallforProposals,HIPOwillbeusedintheFLIPOconfigura:onfortheTritonocculta:oneventinOctober2017

– ManyofHIPO’scapabili:esarecoveredbythe(visiblelight)focalplaneimager,FPI+

–  Future:HIPOwillnotbeofferedinCycle6CfP;HIPOusefultoSOFIAfordiagnos:cs(Shack-Hartmann)

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

How do SOFIA’s Instruments Measure up to the Sweet Spot?

•  FPI+(FocalPlaneImager-plus)–  StandardtrackingcamerafortheSOFIAtelescopewith1024x1024pixelsciencegradeCCDsensor

–  Itisafastframe-rateimagingphotometerinthe360-1100nmwavelengthrange

– Alwaysavailablesimultaneouslywithotherinstruments–  FiveSloanDigitalSkySurveyfiltersu',g',r',i',z'andaScho}RG1000NIRcutonfilterareavailable

–  Future:Manypoten:alenhancementstoop:mizeitsuseasocculta:onscienceinstrument

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

How do SOFIA’s Instruments Measure up to the Sweet Spot?

•  HAWC+(High-resolu:onAirborneWidebandCamera-plus)– Diffrac:on-limitedimagingofpolarizedandunpolarizedlightinfivebroadbands40μm–300μm

– WillbeofferedinCycle6CfPwithcaveats– HAWC+’sFuture:Uniquecapabili:es:Far-IRimagingandpolariza:on

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

How do SOFIA’s Instruments Measure up to the Sweet Spot?

•  HIRMES(HighResolu:onMid-InfrarEdSpectrometer)– Wavelengthrange:25µm–122µm– Diffrac:onlimited(ornearlyso)overen:rerange–  Varietyofobservingmodes

•  SpectroscopyR=600(low)19,000(mid)100,000(high)•  Imagingspectroscopymode:R~2000forafewselectedemissionlines

–  TESbolometers@0.1Karebackgroundlimited•  >90%quantumefficiencyoverreasonablybroadbands

–  Future:Firstlightin2019

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

How do SOFIA’s Instruments Measure up to the Sweet Spot?

•  NextGen(orGen4)– Wavelengthrangeandallothercapabili:es:tbd– Mass,power,datarate:see“Inves:gatorsHandbook”–  Size/shape:hastogetthroughthedoorandmaketheturnatthespiralstaircase

– NASAisplanningaROSEScallin2017

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

Orion observed with FIFI-LS and HAWC+

FIFI-LS(158μm)

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

HAWC+(BandsA[53μm],C[89μm],andE[214μm])

HAWC+ Science Highlight

19

Dust-inducedpolariza:ontracesstructureandstrengthoftheinterstellarmagne:cfield,whichplaysanimportantroleinstarforma:on.

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Note:theKAOdatashowE-vectors;theSOFIAdatashow,rotated,B-vectors

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Ask not what SOFIA can do for you, but what you can do for SOFIA

•  Itis:meforeverySOFIAaficionadotoexercisehis/herdutytovote.

•  FortheupcomingSeniorReviewofSOFIA,threemetricswillbeimportant:publishedpapers,proposalsforobserving:me,qualityofproposalsfortheGen4instrumentcall

•  Ifcon:nuingSOFIAbeyond2019isimportanttoyou,weareaskingyoutovotewithyourfeet,namelybywri:ngSOFIApapers,proposingtoCycle6,proposinganewinstrumentorsignificantimprovementtoanexis:ngone.

•  Lotsofpapersneedtobepublishedasap,certainlybeforeDecember2017:“Voteearlyandvoteohen”

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

Thank You

FutureFIRInstrumenta-onYorke:SOFIA23March2017

h}p://www.sofia.usra.edu