SANTIAGO—An airplane-borne telescope has flown high above Chile at night this month to observe a sliver of the universe as scientists aim to gain a better understanding of how stars are born. The U.S. space agency NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a state-of-the-art Boeing 747 fitted with a telescope able to observe the entire infrared spectrum, arrived in Chile this month, marking its first visit to South America. “We’re an infrared observatory and we are filling the gap between the visible light and the X-ray light for astronomers to study the universe,” said Ed Harmon, manager of operations for SOFIA. SOFIA’s main goal in Chile, Harmon added, was to collect data on the Large Magellanic Cloud—one of the closest galaxies to our Milky Way—which is easily observable from the vantage point of Santiago. The team also collected data on a number of celestial objects visible only from Earth’s …