NASA to Host Video Chat Showcasing SOFIA Science

NASA invites the public to join an online video chat about viewing the infrared universe with the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Project Scientist Pamela Marcum will take questions for approximately one hour at 10 a.m. PDT / 1 p.m. EDT Thursday, May 12.

Participants in the live video chat will join a conversation with Marcum about SOFIA's first science flights, targets of opportunity, and plans for future flights. Marcum is based at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. An expert on galaxy evolution, she worked on the first extensive ultraviolet imaging of nearby galaxies. She previously served as a program scientist for NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Kepler missions.

For more information on the video chat and to participate, visit:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-arc

SOFIA is NASA's next generation airborne observatory and is a joint venture of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. NASA's Ames manages the SOFIA science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association headquartered in Columbia, Md., and the German SOFIA Institute at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. SOFIA is based and managed at Dryden's Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif.

For more information about the SOFIA Mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/SOFIA