The 2.5-meter infrared telescope in the rear fuselage of NASA's SOFIA flying observatory tracked the star Polaris during characterization test…

About this photograph

The SOFIA telescope team collected baseline operational measurements during several nights of characterization testing in March 2008 while the SOFIA 747SP aircraft that houses the German-built infrared telescope was parked on an unlit ramp next to its hangar at the NASA Dryden Flight Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. The primary celestial target was Polaris, the North Star. The activity provided the team with a working knowledge of how telescope operating systems interact and the experience of tracking celestial targets from the ground.

Part of the additional collection. The source and attribution above describe this photograph.