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]

One Gemini South wasn’t quite enough for this sunset ✨

Thanks to a perfectly still patch of water on Cerro Pachón in Chile, the telescope appears to have a twin reflected beneath it.

Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/C. Corco

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Cause baby, you're a firework 🎤🎆

This is Pa 30, an explosive cloud of gas and dust bursting from a central hot blue star. Astronomers say it’s the likely remnant of a supernova that people on Earth saw in the year 1181.

📸: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

The Mayall 4-meter took a summer vacation — now it’s back and shinier than ever! 🌞

The NSF Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at @KittPeakNatObs underwent a successful summer shutdown, during which staff recoated its primary mirror with aluminum.

📸KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Spooky season has arrived 👻✨

Meet the Ghost of Jupiter, the nickname given to planetary nebula NGC 3242.

📷 T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and L. Frattare and Z. Levay/STScI/AURA/NASA

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

AURA is extremely thankful to Pat McCarthy for his service to NOIRLab and the U.S. astronomical community.

Read more: 🔗https://t.co/FS5K0evuRt

Credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. Willman

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

AURA and NOIRLab welcome Dr. Beth Willman as the Interim Director of NOIRLab. Dr. Willman will take over from Dr. Pat McCarthy on 5 October 2026 while AURA begins the search for a new permanent Director. (1/2🧵)

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Golden hour at Cerro Tololo 🌅

For a few minutes each evening, the mountains around NSF @cerrotololo in northern Chile are transformed by the warm light of the setting Sun.

📷 NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/C. Corco

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Looks like a pile of glitter? Think much, much older. ✨

This is NGC 6723, a globular cluster also known as the Chandelier Cluster.

📷 Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Well, that went by fast 👀

NSF @NOIRLabAstro is turning 7!

In 2019, observatories and programs across Chile, Arizona, and Hawaiʻi came together under NSF NOIRLab as one national center for nighttime astronomy.

Here’s to our amazing staff who make it all possible! 🎉

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Let’s go, airglow! 🧡
An orange glow hangs over Gemini North on Maunakea in Hawaiʻi. It’s airglow — light from atoms in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Orion and Sirius shine beyond.

📸 International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Slovinský

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

What’s it like to drive up Cerro Pachón in Chile after the July storm? 🚙❄️
There’s still a little snow on the mountain, making for some spectacular views along the way.

This footage was taken in September 2026.
📹 NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/C. Corco

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

We’re hiring in Chile!

NSF NOIRLab is looking for an Executive Administrative Assistant to support the Directors of the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope and NSF @cerrotololo.

Apply here: https://t.co/i2zsOmMmtS

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Clean, pristine spiral galaxies are fine, but we also like messy cosmic collisions.💥🌌
Centaurus A, seen here, is the byproduct of a merger between an elliptical galaxy and a smaller spiral galaxy.
📷CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA/M. Soraisam, T.A. Rector, M. Zamani, and D. de Martin

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

A “typical” night shift at Cerro Pachón (if your definition of typical includes this view 🌌)

Watch the sky above the SOAR Telescope in Chile. SOAR is among the best research facilities available to astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere

📸 NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Horálek

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Black holes: the Universe’s ultimate introverts. 🕳️
They pull you in, but they never open up. 👀

This is an artist’s impression of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way.
Credit: @GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva (SpaceEngine)

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

We rate this image ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

NSF–DOE @VRubinObs joins the epic Pleiades star cluster in this 📸, created by stacking 20 background and 10 foreground images.The 7 bright stars of the asterism are clearly visible.

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

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Are you passionate about astronomy, observational science, and advanced instrumentation?

We are seeking an Assistant Queue Observer in Tucson, Arizona to support operations of the NEID spectrograph.

Apply here: https://t.co/Wur8aAJf0H

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Happy September equinox! 🌞

Today marks one of two occurrences during the year where night and day last nearly an equal 12 hours. It also kicks off autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere. 🍃🌎🍂

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

The NSF NOIRLab-produced Science On a Sphere show, The Sun: Our Living Star, has been transformed into an automated show complete with narration and a soundtrack to use at a science center near you!

Download it for free for any SOS-compatible system:
🔗 https://t.co/4qnGsC0pzK

[NOIRLab @NOIRLabAstro]

Somewhere between “I’ll just take a quick look” and “wait… WHAT am I looking at?”🤯 lies this cosmic treasure chest.

The large galaxy at the top is NGC 4261. Down in the bottom-left is NGC 4281, a lenticular galaxy.

Credit: NSF-DOE @VRubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA