FORCAST: the facility mid-IR camera for SOFIA

We report on new development and testing of FORCAST, the Faint Object infraRed Camera for the SOFIA Telescope. FORCAST will offer dual channel imaging in discrete filters at 5 - 25 microns and 30 - 40 microns, with diffraction-limited imaging at wavelengths > 15 microns. FORCAST will have a plate scale of 0.75 arcsec per pixel, giving it a 3.2 arcmin x 3.2 arcmin FOV on SOFIA. In addition, a set of grisms will enable FORCAST to perform long slit and cross-dispersed spectroscopic observations at low to moderate resolution (R ~ 140 - 1200) in the bandpasses 4.9 - 8.1 microns, 8.0 - 13.3 microns, 17.1 - 28.1 microns, and 28.6 - 37.4 microns. FORCAST has seen first light at the Palomar 200 inch telescope. It will be available for astronomical observations and facility testing at SOFIA first flight.