Public domain
This backlit photo of SOFIA's infrared telescope during characterization testing shows the cell-like construction of the telescope's 2.5-meter primary mirror
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About this work
The SOFIA telescope team collected baseline operational measurements during several nights of characterization testing in March 2008 while the SOFIA 747SP aircraft that houses the German-built infrared telescope was parked on an unlit ramp next to its hangar at the NASA Dryden Flight Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. The primary celestial target was Polaris, the North Star.
NASA Image and Video Library’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineThis backlit photo of SOFIA's infrared telescope during characterization testing shows the cell-like construction of the telescope's 2.5-meter primary mirror. NASA/AFRC, 2008-03-10. Public domain. ID: ED08-0067-10.
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