GREAT: First Installation on SOFIA

Photo Release

January 31, 2011

On January 21/22, 2011, GREAT, the "German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies", was mounted on the airborne observatory SOFIA for the first time. Installation and first tests were very successful. A number of further tests will follow before the first scientific flights of SOFIA with GREAT will take place in April 2011. "Thanks to all who participated in the project over the years and contributed to the completion of the instrument", says Rolf Güsten from Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, project manager for GREAT.

GREAT, the "German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz Frequencies", is a receiver for spectroscopic observations at far-infrared frequencies between 1.2 and 5 Terahertz (60-220 µm wavelength), not accessible from ground because of water vapour absorption. The receiver will be used at the airborne observatory SOFIA. GREAT has been built as one of two German SOFIA instruments of the first generation by a consortium of German research institutes (MPIfR Bonn, Universität zu Köln, MPS Katlenburg-Lindau, DLR-PF Berlin). Project manager for GREAT is Dr. Rolf Güsten (MPIfR). The development of the instrument was financed by means of the participating institutes, Max Planck Society and German Research Society within the framework of SFB 494.

Go to Editor View