SOFIA – A Brief Overview of ISM Science Highlights to Date

¹ Deutsches SOFIA Institut, Univ. Stuttgart, Germany
² SOFIA Science Center, NASA Ames Research Center, USA

Abstract

SOFIA is now close to finishing its Cycle 3 observing season. Despite a turbulent year (2014) including a NASA funding crisis and a heavy maintenance visit (down-time) at Lufthansa-Technik, SOFIA has successfully carried out many important observing programs, using the 4 instruments GREAT, FORCAST, FIFI-LS, and EXES. A second southern hemisphere multi-week deployment to New Zealand was completed in June/July 2015 with FORCAST and GREAT and has provided exciting new data. Here we present a brief overview of science highlights from Cycle 0, 1, 2, and 3 observations related to the study of the interstellar medium (ISM) and star formation. Some of these results have been covered by more detailed individual accounts, but a summary and synopsis of SOFIA's major achievements to date seems worthwhile, also to indicate SOFIA's future potential for investigating key interstellar processes (collapse, disk formation, outflows, turbulence, heating and cooling, and magnetic field effects).