January 14, 2008 9:20 PM PST
Sofia's chief scientist, Eric Becklin, a specialist in infrared astronomy and professor emeritus at UCLA, stands in front of the plane's massive telescope. The round steel circle behind Becklin stands in as a counterweight for the telescope on the other side (Becklin compared it to a teeter-totter), but it will eventually be replaced by one of nine instruments to be used on scientific missions, Becklin said.
Cornell University, for example, is developing an infrared camera that will be mounted on the telescope so scientists can better view images. Becklin said that NASA, in partnership with Cornell, plans for its first scientific mission to look at a massive black hole in the Milky Way--the closest black hole to Earth.
Photo by Stefanie Olsen/CNET News.com
