SOFIA’s View of Massive Stars and Star Forming Regions

Understanding the formation and evolution of massive stars is an important area of study in astronomy. Massive stars have a tremendous impact on their natal environments via feedback processes and similarly influence future generations of forming stars. While there are several theories related to the formation of massive stars, there are still many open questions that are active areas of research. Given that massive stars are relatively rare compared to low-mass counterparts, further study and characterization of high mass protostars can provide important clues to aid in our understanding of the star formation process. Over the past decade, The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has played a key role in studies of high mass star formation, with instrumentation at mid- to far-IR wavelengths that can probe the earliest phases of star formation and also study massive star forming complexes. In this talk, I will present an overview and reflection on SOFIA results related to massive star formation and massive star forming regions from a variety of programs carried out by the observatory.