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 ...
NOIRLab: Sharpest Image Ever of Universe’s Most Massive Known Star

NOIRLab: Sharpest Image Ever of Universe’s Most Massive Known Star

By harnessing the capabilities of the 8.1-meter Gemini South telescope in Chile, which is part of the International Gemini Observatory ...
This 180-megapixel panorama shows the various Maunakea observatories including Gemini North, part of the International Gemini Observatory, a program of NSF's NOIRLab.

AURA and NSF’s NOIRLab Acknowledge Hawai‘i House Bill 2024

The International Gemini Observatory, a program of the National Science Foundation's (NSF’s) NOIRLab, which operates the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea, and its management ...
Continuing Updates on the Contreras Fire at Kitt Peak National Observatory

Continuing Updates on the Contreras Fire at Kitt Peak National Observatory

The Contreras Fire reached the Kitt Peak National Observatory during the early morning of Friday 17 June 2022. We are ...
Kitt Peak National Observatory Shuts Down Due to Contreras Fire

Kitt Peak National Observatory Shuts Down Due to Contreras Fire

A brush fire that has been designated the Contreras Fire is burning near Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in southern ...
NOIRLab: Gemini North Telescope Helps Explain Why Uranus and Neptune Are Different Colors

NOIRLab: Gemini North Telescope Helps Explain Why Uranus and Neptune Are Different Colors

Astronomers may now understand why the similar planets Uranus and Neptune are different colors. Using observations from the Gemini North ...
logos of the 50 institutions that are members of AURA

2022 AURA Annual Meeting

Each year the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) holds an Annual Meeting for the Representatives from its ...
NOIRLab: Galactic Ballet Captured from NSF’s NOIRLab in Chile

NOIRLab: Galactic Ballet Captured from NSF’s NOIRLab in Chile

The interacting galaxy pair NGC 1512 and NGC 1510 take center stage in this image from the US Department of ...
Remembering Doug Tody, the ‘Father of IRAF’

Remembering Doug Tody, the ‘Father of IRAF’

Former NOAO employee Doug Tody, who was the visionary behind the Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF), has passed away from complications ...
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 ...
Young stellar jets

NOIRLab: Sidewinding Young Stellar Jets Spied by Gemini South

Sinuous stellar jets meander lazily across a field of stars in new images captured from Chile by the international Gemini ...
STScI: Capturing All That Glitters in Galaxies with NASA’s Webb

STScI: Capturing All That Glitters in Galaxies with NASA’s Webb

An international research team will survey the stars, star clusters, and dust that lie within 19 nearby galaxies ...