Our Mysterious Universe Still Evades Cosmological Understanding

Our Mysterious Universe Still Evades Cosmological Understanding

Science can uncover new knowledge, but it can also reveal what we don’t understand. New research is shedding light on ...
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Artist’s Impression of Kilonova Progenitor Star System

NOIRLab: First Kilonova Progenitor System Identified

Astronomers using the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, have uncovered ...
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Astronomers have released a gargantuan survey of the galactic plane of the Milky Way.

NOIRLab: Billions of Celestial Objects Revealed in Gargantuan Survey of the Milky Way

Astronomers have released a gargantuan survey of the galactic plane of the Milky Way. The new dataset contains a staggering ...
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Red glowing center framed by a dark background. Glowing yellow and blue lights throughout the red area and into the dark area.

NOIRLab: Dark Energy Camera Captures Bright, Young Stars Blazing Inside Glowing Nebula

NOIRLab has released a breathtaking image of the star-forming Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357), which is located about 8000 light-years from ...
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This image, taken by astronomers using the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, captures the galaxy NGC 1566 as it twirls, flinging its arms through the vastness of space. Colloquially nicknamed the Spanish Dancer, this spiral galaxy is often studied by astronomers learning about galaxy groups, stars of different ages, and galactic black holes.

NOIRLab: Spanish Dancer Galaxy Twirls into View

This image, taken by astronomers using the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter ...
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NOIRLab: Largest Collection of Free-Floating Planets Found in the Milky Way

NOIRLab: Largest Collection of Free-Floating Planets Found in the Milky Way

Using observations and archival data from several of NSF's NOIRLab’s observatories, together with observations from telescopes around the world and ...
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NOIRLab: Plunging into the Furnace

NOIRLab: Plunging into the Furnace

The denizens of the Fornax galaxy cluster populate this image from the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, located in Chile ...
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The fastest asteroid in the Solar System has been discovered at NOIRLab’s CTIO using the powerful 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) in Chile — the Sun’s new nearest neighbor. Astronomers just ten days ago discovered an asteroid with the fastest orbital period of any known asteroid in the Solar System. The orbit of the approximately 1-kilometer-diameter asteroid takes it as close as 20 million kilometers (12 million miles or 0.13 au), from the Sun every 113 days. This artist’s rendering shows the asteroid (above) and the planet Mercury (below).

NOIRLab: Fastest Orbiting Asteroid Discovered at Cerro Tololo

Using the powerful 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) in Chile, astronomers discovered an asteroid with the shortest orbital period of ...
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NOIRLab: Astronomers are Bulging with Data

NOIRLab: Astronomers are Bulging with Data

Star-studded image shows the glittering central parts of the Milky Way ...
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AURA Observatory: 5th Anniversary of the First Dark Sky Sanctuary in the World

AURA Observatory: 5th Anniversary of the First Dark Sky Sanctuary in the World

Five years ago, on 9 August 2015, at the International Astronomical Union General Assembly in Honolulu, Hawai’i, the International Dark-Sky ...
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Artist impression of a super nova explosion

NOIRLab: Astronomers Sink Their Teeth Into Special Supernova

Astronomers using several telescopes at NOIRLab, including the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope, have obtained critical data on a particular ...
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Solar corona during a total solar eclipse

A Stroke of Astronomical Luck for Solar Science

On July 2, 2019 a total solar eclipse will pass over Chile and Argentina, and through a stroke of astronomical ...
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