Vibration isn't the reason why exposures tend to be short, and at the longer wavelengths SOFIA operates at it's not the dominant source of the image quality. T

Vibration isn't the reason why exposures tend to be short, and at the longer wavelengths SOFIA operates at it's not the dominant source of the image quality. The real reason is that at the infrared wavelengths seen on SOFIA the sky that we're looking through is very bright, and can quickly saturate detectors. If you're interested in the nitty-gritty (with pictures!) there's a PDF that describes one of the methods: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/instruments/FORCAST_observations_modes.pdf http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/instruments/FORCAST_observ... Edit: More nitty-gritty here: https://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/ObserversHandbook/FORCAST.html#ImgPlanning https://www.sofia.usra.edu/Science/ObserversHandbook/FORCAST...