Vol. 542

A&A special feature: GREAT: early science results

Astronomy & Astrophysics is publishing a special feature dedicated to the early science results of the GREAT far-infrared instrument onboard the SOFIA airborne observatory. We present 22 articles reporting on the first astronomical results and the technologies used. Among other features, GREAT allows detecting interstellar molecular species not observable from the ground, some of them for the first time ever.