Flying eye on the universe.

The main mirror for NASA's new airborne eye on the universe is now ready for installation in this modified Boeing 747 SP after being transformed from a carefully shaped and polished piece of glass into a highly reflective optical component at Ames Research Center.

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The mirror was coated in a ten-ton, 16-foot-tall stainless steel vacuum chamber. It took just 20 seconds to apply the shiny aluminum coating to the glass mirror for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The telescope is scheduled to begin observations in mid-2009. www.nasa.gov/sofia