SOFIA Data Center Secures Scientific Heritage
Over the next five years, a team of experts at the Institute of Space Systems (IRS) at the University of Stuttgart will be assembling the SOFIA Data Center (SDC). The objective is to make the data collected by SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, available to the international astronomical community in optimal shape for further scientific use. At this year's annual meeting of the German Astronomical Society in Cologne from September 9 to 13, 2024, Bernhard Schulz, project scientist of the SDC and former SOFIA Science Mission Deputy Director, presented the SDC to the scientific community.
After SOFIA, a joint project of the German and American space agencies, DLR and NASA, ceased observation operations in September 2022, there will no longer be an observatory capable of detecting far-infrared radiation for at least ten to twenty years due to the long development phases of such projects. “Therefore, every photon that SOFIA has detected and whose measurement will be stored in the SDC archive is currently extremely valuable,” says Schulz. ”We want to support German and international astronomers with our work to fully exploit SOFIA's scientific heritage and to still publish many more articles based on this archive.”
Continuous optimization
Before researchers can scientifically analyze astronomical observations, this data must first undergo a basic processing, where, for example, interfering factors of the detectors are remedied or various data points are assigned the correct wavelengths. The software required for this is continuously optimized and at the end of the operational phase of large observatories, it is common practice to process all data again with its latest version. For an airborne observatory like SOFIA, additional factors such as improved coordinate reconstruction - derived from the observatory's guiding cameras - or new corrections for the existing infrared-absorbing atmospheric water vapor play a role. Together with the scientific data, this technical and operational information will also be stored in the SDC archive. Numerous former employees of the German SOFIA Institute (DSI), which coordinated SOFIA activities on behalf of DLR during the operational phase, will contribute their expertise.
Additional information:
German SOFIA Institute (DSI): https://www.dsi.uni-stuttgart.de/en/
