SOFIA Captures Pluto Occultation

It is no easy task to capture the shadow of Pluto as it travels across the surface of Earth at more than 53,000 mph—but that is exactly what NASA scientists and flight crew did on the night of June 29, 2015. In a true team effort, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy or SOFIA's infrared telescope successfully observed the dwarf planet as it passed in front of a distant star. This event, known as an "occultation," allowed scientific analysis of Pluto and its atmosphere by flying SOFIA at the