New NASA Observatory is Changing Astronomy

June 26th, 2013

NASA cut a hole in the side of a 747,replacing it with an infrared telescope to make the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). SOFIA has been said to become NASA's next generation of stargazing,  including studies being done by Cornell Astronomy graduate students. One  of these students, Ryan Lau, here explains observations made from SOFIA with an instrument built at Cornell of dust particles orbiting a black  hole--particles that are 24,000 light years away and the width of half a strand of hair. News Video HERE.