21 June 2025: Red Eye to the Stars (Eng and Afr)

On a clear evening, a jumbo jet takes off along California's Pacific coast, heading into the sunset. On reaching its cruising altitude of 50km (31 miles) in the stratosphere, the Boeing 747SP opens a hatch at the back of the plane and begins to peer into the depths of space.

Unobstructed by water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere, SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, gathers invisible thermal radiation from distant celestial objects. SOFIA specialises in observing nurseries of young stars in distant gas nebulae - phenomena that cannot be studied with regular telescopes. To create this unique film, a planetarium production team accompanied the scientists on SOFIA and captured impressive fulldome (360°) footage.

Now you too can experience a red-eye flight aboard the flying observatory SOFIA, as it strives to unravel the mysteries of star birth.