From the September 2013 issue

A gallery of SOFIA images

Not all of the pictures made it into the magazine. Here are 10 more from Sarah Scoles’ trip to the stratosphere.
By | Published: September 23, 2013 | Last updated on May 18, 2023

In “A field trip to the stratosphere,” I described my trip on the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a modified 747 jet that flies up to 48,000 feet (14.6 kilometers) above sea level, points a telescope out a hole in its fuselage, and stares at space. Only a few pictures from that adventure could fit in the pages of a magazine, so here is a gallery of even more — a mix of shots from inside the NASA hangar and inside SOFIA.