[ Music ]
[ SOFIA taking off ]
>> If you're all listening we're going to open the door
in about three minutes or so.
>> I'd like to make a right turn and climb to 4-1
or 4-3 if that's possible.
[ SOFIA turning ]
>> Go ahead.
>> I have point one on boresight.
>> Thank you.
>> Observing.
>> Some of the trepidation initially was "oh my gosh are we
going to be able to stay up all evening?"
My adrenaline is so flowing right now
that that has not been an issue.
I am just as excited here, what is it 2:30 in the morning?
as I was at 7:30 in the evening.
I certainly hope that I will be able to take that excitement,
that awe of what's going on in this 747 this evening and impart
that to the students, whether they be young students,
whether they be adults, and get them thinking
about "what could I learn
from the astronomy that's being done aboard this program?"
>> Tonight we have everything from learning
about the FORCAST instrument, how SOFIA works,
what they're imaging, what they're trying to learn
about objects using infrared.
>> I've learned about how hard it is to plan a flight path,
and all of the different targets they have along
that flight path.
My students have such a limited knowledge
of the electromagnetic spectrum.
I want to show them that there's so much more
that can be learned beyond the visible light spectrum.
[ Music ]
>> We're looking at massive star forming regions in the direction
of the Constellation Sagittarius, looking toward the center
of the Milky Way Galaxy.
>> The protostars and how they develop
and the temperatures they develop and what's happening
within those nebulae that they're developing within.
Being able to see how they can see through the dust clouds
into those little nurseries
of the protostars has been fascinating.
>> So one of the advantages of using a grism is
that you can just plunk the element into a filter wheel.
Right, so you can pop it out, put in an imaging filter
and it functions essentially the same way.
If you'd like your students to be involved they do have ways
that you can actually get involved
with the general investigators to have them work
with you directly with their data.
>> I can see so many different ways
to take this back into the classroom.
Part of our job as teachers is to take science from scientists
and translate it so the general public can understand it.
My role, I guess, in addition to regular classroom visits
that I would be doing, is developing planetarium lessons.
>> ...using SOFIA you can see the central regions even
if they're bright....
>> There's specific content connections that I can make
with what we're doing onboard here on SOFIA
such as learning about stellar life cycles
with new stars forming in regions within space.
But also just the careers that are onboard.
The different educational backgrounds of all the people
on board, the different jobs they can have.
They don't all have to be astronomers to have a part
in this program in an exciting career
in which they're learning all the time.
>> One of the biggest challenges for students with visual impairments and blindness is
involvement into the STEM fields.
And to get them excited, I think, is probably the most important thing that we can bring back.
>> Science always needs intelligent people.
People that have a different perspective who are going
to think about a problem differently,
and just because they can't see doesn't mean they can't think
about these problems and develop something new or revolutionary.
>> Translating astronomy,
just visual astronomy is challenging enough,
and then translating infrared astronomy adds an extra layer
of difficulty.
One of the things that we've done just
for this trip is we've actually embossed the SOFIA aircraft
complete with the outline of the telescope,
and it's allowed our students the opportunity to kind
of feel what the plane is like, and where the telescope is
at in relationship to the overall plane.
>> Being a space history museum, we have a lot
of astronomy opportunities.
SOFIA with the platform it operates
on offers an extremely unique opportunity
to take those persons who might come to one of our star parties
or might want to come to one of our solar events
to a far, far different level.
We can take those participants in our programs, rather
than just "hey look through this lens and see what you see",
"here's what we were able to accomplish and see once we were
at 43,000 feet, and how infrared astronomy works."
>> I remember being taught this way.
Okay open your book to chapter whatever.
The first kid reads the first paragraph,
the second kid reads the second paragraph, the third kid,
if they can, read the third paragraph,
and then it wasn't particular interesting.
>> ...and how to connect this with...
>> If you can actually do something...
Here's some data that was gathered.
Here's how you reduce it.
Here's how you use it.
This is what it's important for,
and look at what you get at the end.
I think kids really enjoy real things, and that's what this is.
That's my favorite part.
>> Those first two dots indicate that everything after it is a capital letter...
>> Tonight we had Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on the original "Star Trek" series.
>> To have her onboard to encourage education, to encourage involvement, to encourage exploration
just helps everyone out, it's wonderful.
>> ...so this is all emission in the infrared portion of the spectrum...
>> I was a child when "Star Trek" came on, and that sort of helped spur my interest in science,
spur my interest in space.
>> We share in common a passion for getting under-represented groups in STEM.
That's one of my biggest things, is getting women and minorities into STEM fields.
And, so, she's a wonderful ambassador for that, and I'm really proud to have flown with her tonight.
>> She was- still is- just an amazing, lifelong learner.
>> I just hope I'm as enthusiastic and a lifelong learner at 82.
[ Laughter ]
[ SOFIA landing ]
[ Music ]