Tag Archives: "NOIRLab"

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Montage of telescopes with the arc of the Milky Way behind them.

NSF NOIRLab

NSF NOIRLab is the preeminent U.S. national center for ground-based, nighttime optical and infrared astronomy. NOIRLab enables breakthrough discoveries in ...
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4 photos of people engaged in teaching and outreach activities.

Education and Outreach

AURA’s mission includes promoting public understanding of our universe and the benefits of scientific exploration. Our talented education and public ...
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A large white and tan fuzzy object sits on a dark background dotted with stars. The object is convoluted with protruding areas and a bright white star in the center.

Gaze into the Crystal Ball Nebula and See the Light Emitted by a Dying Star 1500 Years Ago

The 8.1-meter Gemini North telescope, located on the summit of Maunakea in Hawai‘i, has captured NGC 1514, nicknamed the Crystal ...
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Light interconnected filaments on a dark background creates an interconnected structure. The color of the background graduates from lighter in the top left corner to darkest in the bottom left corner.

DESI Completes Planned 3D Map of the Universe and Continues Exploring

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, one of the most extensive surveys of the cosmos ever conducted, finished all observations for ...
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Illustration of 2 bridges - one comming from the top right and one from the bottom left. The two bridges don't meet and there is a large gap in between. The background is a dark brown fading to a mottled blue and orange in the top left.

The Local Universe’s Expansion Rate Is Clearer Than Ever, but Still Doesn’t Add Up

A new synthesis of astronomical measurements confirms a persistent mismatch that could point to physics beyond current models ...
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A rendering of the inner Solar System showing the asteroids discovered by Rubin in light teal. Known asteroids are dark blue. The rendering shows a total of almost 12,700 asteroids that were discovered with Rubin over the span of 1.6 years: 73 were discovered during the first early test observations using Rubin’s Commissioning Camera in late 2024 and released as part of Rubin’s Data Preview 1 in Summer 2025; 1514 were discovered during First Look observations in April and May 2025; and the recent 11,000+ asteroids were discovered using observations taken during Rubin’s early optimization surveys in Summer 2025. These are the locations of objects at the time of each object’s discovery. In the time since discovery, the objects have continued in their orbits around the Sun and dispersed from the narrow “pencil beam” rays seen in this graphic. See this in the animation of the model here

Early Data from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Reveals Over 11,000 New Asteroids

Scientists at NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of ...
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This image shows Star PicII-503 in Pictor II ultra-faint dwarf galaxy. The right side is a pullout from the very starry field on the left. In the middle of the pullout on the right is a blurry white light that is Picll-503

Extremely Rare Second-Generation Star Discovered Inside Ancient Relic Dwarf Galaxy

Astronomers have discovered one of the most chemically primitive stars ever identified — an ancient stellar relic that preserves the ...
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An illustration of NSF NOIRLab's follow-up ecosystem. The telescopes pictured are connected by blue beams of light. The telescopes on the bottom have rainbow beam coming from them representing their observations.

First NSF NOIRLab Follow-Up Observations Triggered by NSF–DOE Rubin Alerts

NSF NOIRLab, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, has completed end-to-end runs of its ecosystem for following up on ...
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This artist’s illustration represents the start of the alert stream from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The summit facility is shown on a rocky ridge. The night sky features stars and the glittering band of the Milky Way Galaxy. The sky is populated with multiple alert “pings,” representing individual alerts from Rubin that something in the sky has changed in brightness or position. Different icons represent various types of alerts, including asteroids, supernovae, active galactic nuclei, and variable stars.

NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Launches Real-Time Discovery Machine for Monitoring the Night Sky

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory has issued its first scientific alerts, marking a historic milestone in astrophysics. Expected to increase to seven ...
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A black background is filled with stars -small and large glowing white, red, yellow and blue.

Dark Energy Survey Scientists Release Analysis of All Six Years of Survey Data

The Dark Energy Survey Collaboration collected information on hundreds of millions of galaxies across the Universe using the U.S. Department ...
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Artist illustration of a yellow star with rungs around it. to the tight of the star is a orange cloud.

Massive Cloud With Metallic Winds Discovered Orbiting Mystery Object

Astronomers using the Gemini South telescope achieve unprecedented detection of vaporized metals within a dusty, gaseous cloud during rare stellar ...
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This artist’s illustration depicts 2025 MN45 — the fastest-rotating asteroid with a diameter over 500 meters that scientists have ever found. The asteroid is shown surrounded by many other asteroids, depicting its location within the main asteroid belt. The Sun and Jupiter are shown in the distance. 2025 MN45 is 710 meters (0.44 miles) in diameter, and it completes a full rotation every 1.88 minutes. The discovery was made using data from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Spots Record-Breaking Asteroid in Pre-Survey Observations

First peer-reviewed paper using LSST Camera data identifies an asteroid, nearly the size of eight football fields, rotating every two ...
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