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SOFIA Successfully Completes June 2010 - A Quarterly Publication SOFIA successfully completes its ‘first light’ flight BY CATHY WESELBY The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, achieved a major milestone May 26, with its first in-flight night observations. Astronomers call this event for a new observatory “first light.” The highly modified Boeing 747SP jetliner fitted with a 100-inch diameter reflecting telescope took off from its home base at the Aircraft Operations Anthony Wesley photo by NASA Facility in Palmdale, Calif., of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. The in-flight personnel consisted of an international crew from NASA, the Universities Space Research Associa- tion in Columbia, Md., Cornell Univer- sity and the German SOFIA Institute (DSI) in Stuttgart. During the six-hour This composite infrared image of Jupiter was made by Cornell University’s FORCAST camera flight, at altitudes up to 35,000 feet, during the SOFIA observatory’s "first light" flight. A recent visual-wavelength picture of approxi- the crew of 10 scientists, astronomers, mately the same side of Jupiter is shown for comparison. engineers and technicians gathered We’re back! By popular demand, the Astro- gram is resuming publication this month as a quarterly newsletter. It will be available online and in hard- NASA photo by Jim Ross NASA copy format and mailed to onsite mailstops and Ames retirees. The Astrogram will be published every three months. The Astrogram will be available online at http://www.nasa. gov/centers/ames/news/astrogram/ index.html Ames Public Affairs is soliciting Its primary mirror covered by a protective sun shade, the German-built infrared telescope short articles (600 word maximum) nestled in the rear fuselage of NASA's SOFIA flying observatory is easily visible in this close- up image taken during a recent test flight. with photos and captions for the Astrogram, which need to be sub- mitted to Astrid Olson at A.Olson@ telescope performance data at con- The stability and precise point- nasa.gov. Articles should be Ames soles in the aircraft's main cabin. ing of the German-built telescope met related and also may include hu- "Wind tunnel tests and supercom- or exceeded the expectations of the man interest stories. Photos may puter calculations made at the start engineers and astronomers who put it be submitted and will be evaluated of the SOFIA program predicted we through its paces during the flight. based on quality and suitability for would have sharp enough images for "The crowning accomplishment publication. front-line astronomical research," said of the night came when scientists on Obituaries and ongoing club SOFIA project scientist Pam Marcum board SOFIA recorded images of Jupi- announcements also will be ac- of Ames. "A preliminary look at the first ter," said USRA SOFIA senior science cepted. Classifieds will continue to light data indicates we indeed accom- advisor Eric Becklin. "The compos- be posted on InsideAmes at: http:// plished that." ite image from SOFIA shows heat, insideames.arc.nasa.gov/life.php continued on page 14 www.nasa.gov NASA scientist confirms water ice on asteroid BY RUTH DASSO MA R LAI R E an asteroid so close to the sun was Scientists, using NASA's Infrared a completely surprising result. We Telescope Facility (IRTF) at the obser- expect ice to evaporate quickly into vatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, have space from the surfaces of asteroids," detected water-ice and carbon-based said Pinilla-Alonso. organic compounds on the surface of Other scientists have been scour- an asteroid. The discovery of the fro- ing the solar system for other worlds zen water on one of the asteroid belt's where ice and organic materials occur, largest occupants, called Asteroid 24 including the moons of Saturn and Themis, suggests that some asteroids, Jupiter. Dale Cruikshank, a research as well as comets, were the water car- scientist at NASA Ames experienced riers for a primordial Earth. in these studies, and a colleague of “Artist conception of asteroid 24 Themis and two small fragments of this dynami- cal family, which resulted from a large impact more than one billion years ago. Note that one of the small fragments is inert (as most asteroids are) and the other has a comet-like tail, produced by the sublimation of water ice from its surface.” Figure credit: “Gabriel Pérez, Servicio MultiMedia, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain.” Although conditions in asteroids are not favorable for life, primitive asteroids may have small objects are of growing impor- been “fertilizers,” creating conditions for early life on Earth, and possibly other planets tance in our understanding of the cur- (artist conception, NASA). rent state of all the planets, including our own planet Earth.” The research paper titled, "Water Pinilla-Alonso, noted that "Dr. Pinilla- Pinilla-Alonso is featured in this ice and organics on the surface of the Alonso is one of a small band of issue of the Astrogram’s Science Q&A asteroid 24 Themis," was published planetary scientists pushing the limits section, appearing on page 3. April 29, 2010 in the journal Nature. of our knowledge of the tiny rocks and For the first time, infrared mea- icy lumps in the solar system. These surements showed characteristics of frozen water on Themis. "We calculated a synthetic spec- SETI Institute Science Series offers trum using water ice and other materi- als we thought could be present on the opportunity to learn about space asteroid," said Noemi Pinilla-Alonso, BY Adr IAN BR O W N a research scientist at NASA Ames Have you ever wished you could Telescope Array, the Kepler Mis- and co-author on the Nature paper. "Through a process of elimination and find out more about the work of sci- sion, climate change and a variety of repeated calculations, we confirmed entists at NASA Ames and the SETI Mars, moon and outer planets. the presence not only of frozen water, Institute? Well now you can. The Videos are available at: but of complex organic materials as SETI (Search for Extraterrestial Intel- http://youtube.com/setiinstitute. The well." ligence) Institute runs a weekly talk SETI archives of the talks are avail- While scientists generally agree that asteroids and comets probably series of cutting edge scientists from able at: http://seti.org/colloquium brought some water to Earth, and around the Bay Area and films the If you are in the Bay Area and even the carbon-based materials talks and puts them up on YouTube. want to hear to the talks in person, thought to be necessary for the origin Speakers are from NASA Ames, they are presented at noon at the of life on our planet, finding clear SETI Institute, Stanford, University SETI offices at 515 N. Whisman examples has proven difficult. When these materials and water arrive on of California Berkeley, University of Road, Mountain View. Visit the Web the warm Earth, the conditions for the California Santa Cruz and other Bay site at http://www.seti.org/csc/lec- formation of living organisms some Area institutions. Topics include the tures for more information. four billion years ago were met. LCROSS Mission, SETI, the Allen "Finding widespread water ice on 2 Astrogram June 2010 Science Q&A with Noemi Pinilla-Alonso, NASA astrophysics researcher INTE R VIE W BY RUTH DASSO MA R LAI R E It’s a match! It really is water ice on that asteroid! Noemi Pinilla-Alonso grew up in a city called Oviedo, in northern Spain, and specialized in astronomy and as- trophysics at the University of La La- guna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. photo by Eric James NASA As a graduate student, she worked at El Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and the International Observatory of El Roque de los Muchachos also in the Canary Islands. In 2009, she won a NASA post doctoral fellowship. Question: You are the co-author of a research paper titled, "Water ice and organics on the surface of asteroid 24 Themis," recently published in the British-American scientific journal Nature. What was the discovery, and why was it so Noemi Pinilla-Alonso, NASA astrophysics researcher at NASA Ames. important? This was an amazing discovery. Question: Since water and organics observed spectra matched the spectra We thought asteroid 24 Themis was were found on the asteroid, could it for water ice, and even more surprised orbiting the sun too closely (~3.1 AU) support simple life-forms? to find our spectra matched a residue to keep ice on the surface. We really that could be complex organic mate- expected ice to evaporate quickly into Possibly. It is widely accepted rial: this is an amazing result! space from the surfaces of asteroids. that asteroids and comets may have We were looking for traces of water, brought the building blocks of life to Question: What inspired you to such as hydrated silicates, which have Earth. The conditions in asteroids work for NASA? been found on other asteroids. are not favorable for life; however, What we found was a paper-thin studying primitive asteroids as "fertil- I received a NASA postdoctoral layer of water ice, covering the entire izers" for life, may become an area of fellowship to study the nature of or- asteroid. This discovery means there greater interest to astrobiologists. ganic materials in the solar system. must be a mechanism replenishing the At NASA, I work with a small group of water. Question: What type of laboratory planetary scientists who study minor experiment did you perform to bodies in the solar system, such as Question: Is it possible to estimate make your discovery? asteroids, trans-neptunian objects, how much water is in the asteroid? dwarf planets and icy satellites.
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