Resumen
SOFIA, short for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is a Boeing 747SP aircraft with a 2.7m telescope flying as high as 45000 ft in the stratosphere above 99 percent of the precipitable water vapor. SOFIA normally operates from its base in Palmdale, California, and a typical observing flight lasts for 10 hours before returning to base. SOFIA has started astronomical observations in Dec 2010 and has completed some 30 early science flights in 2011, delivering a number of exciting results and discoveries, both in mid-infrared imaging (5-40mu) and in far-infrared (THz) heterodyne high-resolution spectroscopy which were published in mid-2012 in special issues of ApJ Letters and A & A, respectively. Meanwhile, in July 2013, as part of Cycle 1, SOFIA has deployed to New Zealand for a total of 9 flights (all of them successful) and has observed key targets in the southern hemisphere at THz frequencies, including star forming regions in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. In this talk, I will present a few highlights of SOFIA early science and its future potential, when the full suite of 7 instruments will be implemented by the time of full operations in 2015. As Herschel ran out of cryogens in April 2013, SOFIA will be the premier FIR-astronomical facility for many years to come. Synergies with ALMA and CCAT must be explored. SOFIA is a major bilateral project between NASA and the German Space Agency (DLR), however as an international observatory it offers observing time to the whole astronomical community world-wide, not only to the US and German primary partners.
