Astronomers observed that the early universe is filled with galaxies with an average star formation rate hundreds of times that of today, but the population over time has become more dominated by galaxies where stars are no longer born. Star formation can be shut down through many routes, one of which relies on the supermassive black hole in the heart of massive galaxies. When a supermassive black hole actively accretes interstellar gas, the surrounding material becomes luminous across the electromagnetic spectrum. The energetic output from the resulting quasar has a tremendous effect on the host galaxy, heating and expelling the gas, and shutting down star formation. This process is difficult to investigate, as the hot material surrounding the black hole outshines the host galaxy at nearly all wavelengths of interest. The one exception is the far infrared.

SOFIA/HAWC+ observations at 89 μm published in Cooke et al., 2020 targeted the cold quasar CQ4479, a galaxy caught in that astronomically brief transition phase when the supermassive black hole is actively accreting but a significant amount of the infrared-luminous gas remains. Combined with optical observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, infrared data from the Spitzer and Herschel space telescopes, and X-ray data from XMM-Newton, the data indicate that the stellar population and black hole mass in CQ4479 are growing at the same rate, which is surprising since theory predicts that black hole growth succeeds stellar growth. Read more.

The Arches Cluster, the densest star cluster in our galaxy, is located within the Galactic Center’s Central Molecular Zone (CMZ), just about 25 pc from Sagittarius A*. Named after the arch-shaped radio-bright structures in its line of sight, it is believed to be an important ionization source, powering the major star formation area in the CMZ (the Galactic Center bubble). The physical and dynamical characterization of the cluster’s environment is key to evaluating the stellar feedback from its hot young stars, and can in large part be derived from the analysis of publicly available archival SOFIA maps.

The GREAT map of the fine structure [C II] line at 158 µm offers the high spectral resolution necessary to identify distinct gas components along the line of sight, and to map out the region’s kinematics (project 05_0076, strip map 5A). Wide FIFI-LS maps of that same [C II] line as well as the [N III] line at 57 µm trace the distribution of dense gas on a larger spatial scale, and can be used to derive the temperature field (project 04_0032). Finally, thermal dust emission and compact IR-bright sources, including candidate young stellar objects, can be located from the 25 µm and 37 µm FORCAST maps, part of the Galactic Center Legacy program (project 07_0189). All these datasets are publicly available from the IRSA archive.

Live iPoster Session P056 "SOFIA, An Asset for Planetary Science". Learn more.

AGU attendees are welcome to join this live session which will include a discussion on the role of SOFIA for the Solar System community, after the following short presentations on highlights from the latest SOFIA Solar System results:

Special oral and iPoster Session: "Assessing the Impact of Stellar Feedback". Learn more.

AAS attendees are invited to join the special session, which will include recent theoretical and observational results which contribute to the understanding of the role of stellar feedback across different scales, from protostellar clouds to galaxies. We will place a particular focus on the exploration of the link between feedback and star formation, the shaping of ISM structures, and the chemistry in shocks regions and ionization fronts. Recent observations (IR surveys and high-resolution mm-wave images) of the kinematics and temperature gradients in stellar environments, displaying in detail the interaction of various types of stars and their surrounding ISM, will be presented. Speakers include:

SOFIA Town Hall - with Margaret Meixner, SMO Director (SOFIA/USRA)

Throughout the meeting:

Connect with SOFIA staff at the Virtual Exhibit Booth

Did you know the Outreach team can help promote your SOFIA science result? If you would like to see your science highlighted in this newsletter, on SOFIA's websites, and possibly in a press release, please keep the Outreach team informed about the status of your publication so we can assess opportunities. Please contact Kassandra Bell before or at the moment of paper submission (the earlier, the better). Communicating with the SOFIA Outreach team is considered internal communications and does not violate the embargo policies of scientific journals. More information.

SOFIA colloquia are held via WebEx on Wednesdays at 3:30 pm Pacific. See the complete schedule and connection information.

Tele-Talks are scientific presentations given via phone, with slides distributed ahead of time. The talks are held approximately twice a month on Wednesdays at 9:00 a.m. Pacific, noon Eastern. For information on how to participate, check SOFIA Tele-Talk webpage.