NOIRLab

@NSF NOIRLab is the preeminent US national center for ground-based, nighttime optical and infrared astronomy. Para español siga a @NOIRLabAstroES

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

BREAKING: The largest 3D map of the Universe is now complete 🌌

Last night @desisurvey, mounted on the Nicholas U/ Mayall 4 meter telescope at @KittPeakNatObs, finished its 5-year survey of the cosmos, mapping 47M+ galaxies and quasars.

🔗https://t.co/ypVX7edRqW

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

A blazing meteor pops into the sky above NSF @KittPeakNatObs, a Program of NOIRLab. Meteors are visible in the sky for just a few seconds, so they take skill and a bit of luck to capture on camera.

📸: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Horálek

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

🪐 Astronomers found the strongest evidence yet that some exoplanets may have magnetic fields.
Using @Geminiobs North and ESO’s Very Large Telescope, researchers measured winds on 7 ultra-hot giant exoplanets 🔭

🔗https://t.co/I9RsXs8M5K

📷: @GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

🌌 The Whirlpool Galaxy looks very different depending on how you observe it.

Observations in visible light from the KPNO 2.1-meter Telescope reveal dark dust lanes. Observations in infrared light make that dust glow ✨

📷 NASA/JPL-Caltech and NOAO/AURA/NSF

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

The constellation Gemini shares its name with the International @GeminiObs telescopes in Hawai‘i and Chile. These twin 8.1-meter observatories give astronomers access to the entire sky. ✨ #GeminiSeason

📷: Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/AURA/NSF/A. Hara

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

🌕 This nighttime view from NSF @CerroTololo only looks like daytime because of long-exposure photography ✨

Also visible: the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and Canopus above the telescopes.

📷: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Horálek

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

🌌👀 Spot the moving lights

Perched on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi, the Gemini North telescope—one half of the International Gemini Observatory—uses its 8.1-meter mirror to explore everything from nearby planets to distant galaxies 🔭

📹: International Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

This patch of sky is packed with stars and dust, but it’s only a small slice of the Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey 2, which catalogued 3.32 billion celestial objects.

📷: DECaPS2/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Image processing: M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab)

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

🛠️❄️ Every couple of years, Flamingos-2 comes down for a little maintenance break.

This instrument at the Gemini South telescope is spending a few weeks in the lab for the replacement of its cryocoolers and checks on components.

📷 @GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/S. Olivares

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Gemini North, ½ of @geminiobs, has cameras set up to monitor the sky conditions 24/7. Sometimes the Gemini North CloudCam catches rare sights like:

Kīlauea Erupting 🌋
Light pillars from lava at Mauna Loa 🤯
Fireballs ☄️

With CloudCam, we never miss a photo opportunity!

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

🔮 The Crystal Ball Nebula is not predicting your future, but it is revealing the final stages of a star’s life. This view of NGC 1514 was captured by Gemini North on Maunakea in Hawai’i.

📸@GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

We’re throwing it back to the 60s! These pics are from the construction of the NSF McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, from 1960 through 1962. Today, it’s the 1st science center inside a working telescope: Taṣogida Ki: Center for Astronomy Outreach.

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

✨ The night sky over Cerro Pachón looked a little like a painting

This view of the @Geminiobs South combines a 6 1/2 minute exposure with an artistic radial motion effect, turning star trails into brush-like streaks across the sky

📷@GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/H. Stockebrand

[NOIRLab Science @NOIRLabScience]

Astronomy is entering real-time mode ⚡🔭
NSF's @noirlabastro AEON connects major observatories into one automated system that can react to triggers within minutes — from supernovae to neutron star mergers.
Built for the NSF-DOE @VRubinObs era 🌌
https://t.co/zf5z73gt9c

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

🌹✨ The Rosette Nebula would like your attention for a moment

This giant star-forming region in the constellation Monoceros covers an area of sky more than six times larger than the full Moon 🌕

📸 T. A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

🍎🌎 Calling all educators!

📅 16 June 2026
⏰ 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. MST
📍 NSF NOIRLab Headquarters
950 N Cherry Ave, Tucson, AZ

Register: https://t.co/54fI8Y3oQL

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

The spectrum of the binary star system Eta Carinae is seen here like a rainbow, stretching from ultraviolet to infrared. Spectra like this can tell scientists detailed information about an object’s chemical composition, motion, rotation & distance.

📷: CTIO/NOIRLab/SOAR/NSF/AURA

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

🌈✨ Happy International Day of Light

On March 28, 2001, skies above NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, lit up with something rarely seen that far south: a bright aurora.

👇 Have you ever seen an aurora this far south?

📸 Adam Block/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Happy 20th birthday to Globe at Night!✨

To celebrate, people across the globe are sharing the important message of protecting and restoring our starry night skies. Join our fight against light pollution by submitting observations to https://t.co/81Ca6HamRj. 🌎

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

👀👋 POV: you check on your neighbor… and they check back

Top: NSF NOIRLab telescopes on Cerro Pachón & Cerro Tololo, spotted from La Silla Observatory operated by @ESO.

Bottom: the return look 👀. La Silla seen from NSF @CerroTololo.

📸 NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. Srba, P. Horálek

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Are you dizzy yet? 😵‍💫

Star trails in this extra-long-exposure image of NSF–DOE @VRubinObs capture the apparent motion of the stars.
Rubin will observe about 17 billion stars during its 10-year survey.

📸 NSF-DOE @VRubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/H. Stockebrand