8 February 2025: Red Eye to the stars (English)

Red-Eye to the Stars is a full dome exploration of NASA’s flying observatory SOFIA. On a clear evening, a jumbo jet takes heading into the sunset on California’s Pacific coast. Once the Boeing 747SP has reached its cruising altitude in the stratosphere, a hatch in the back of the plane opens to reveal the view into the depths of space. “SOFIA”, the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy, gathers thermal radiation from distant celestial objects unobstructed by the water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere. Among other things, it can be used to observe the nurseries of young stars in distant gas nebulae that remain hidden in the spectrum of visible light. Join a film crew on a red-eye flight aboard the flying observatory SOFIA to unravel the mysteries of star birth from 50,000 feet above the sea.