Astrophysics (Index)About

Galileo Observatory

(1960s-1970s infrared observatory aircraft)

The Galileo Observatory was an infrared telescope mounted in a converted Convair 990 passenger jet, in operation in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was destroyed in a mid-air collision in 1973 and the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) replaced it, then was eventually replaced by SOFIA.

There was a Galileo II, a replacement Convair 990, later destroyed after a tire failure on takeoff in 1985, but my impression is that it did not carry a telescope, the KAO having taken over that role. Both Galileo observatories, also termed laboratories, were used for studies of Earth atmosphere, and I presume that was the primary use of Galileo II. Its final accident was on a flight intended to gather data from an AMPTE experiment.


Many (perhaps most) online references to a Galileo Observatory are for a fictional ground observatory, within a computer game series. The fictional observatory is modeled after the actual ground observatory, Griffith Observatory of Los Angeles, which is essentially an astronomy museum that includes a working observatory.


(telescope,infrared,airborne,past,NASA)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_Airborne_Observatory#Aircraft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_observatory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_990_Coronado
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffith_Observatory
http://www.buczynski.com/Galileo/galileo.shtml
https://aircraft.fandom.com/wiki/Galileo_Airborne_Observatory
https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19730412-0
https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19850717-0
https://www.sofia.usra.edu/sites/default/files/97-Whiting_AeroHistory.pdf
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/history-of-airborne-astronomy-at-nasa
https://www.grandtheftwiki.com/Galileo_Observatory

Referenced by page:
Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO)

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