Press Releases

Enhanced image of Intracluster light in the Abell 85 galaxy cluster

Organization Release: 4 Dec. 2023 — noirlab2333

Rubin Observatory Will Unlock Fossil Record of Galaxy Cluster Evolution

Intracluster light, the collective glow of innumerable stars stripped from their home galaxies and left to wander vast intergalactic space, is incredibly faint and difficult to detect. Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time will be the first astronomical survey to provide scientists with the data they need to detect intracluster light in thousands of galaxy clusters, unlocking clues to the evolutionary history of the Universe on large scales.
Drone’s-Eye View of Gemini South's Solar Panels

Organization Release: 27 Nov. 2023 — noirlab2332

NSF’s NOIRLab On Track to Reduce Carbon Emissions by Half

Through its Environmental Sustainability Program, NSF's NOIRLab will reduce its entire annual carbon footprint by 50% by the end of 2027. This will be achieved through allocations of supplemental funding from the National Science Foundation towards installing solar panels and batteries at Gemini South and Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile as well as other upgrades at both NOIRLab’s Base and Summit facilities.
IGRINS-2 First-Light spectrum

Organization Release: 13 Nov. 2023 — noirlab2331

Gemini North Peers Deeper Into the Dust with New Instrument

Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, is now peering deeper into the dusty dwellings of young stars with its new IGRINS-2 instrument. This next-generation spectrograph is an upgraded version of the high-demand visiting instrument IGRINS on Gemini South that will expand our understanding of cosmic objects shrouded by dust and gas.
Artist’s impression of a dwarf galaxy undergoing tidal stripping

Science Release: 8 Nov. 2023 — noirlab2330

Gemini North Reveals the Formation of Dense Dwarf Galaxy ‘Fossils’

Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, have captured the eroding remains of more than 100 dwarf galaxies as they transition into ultra-compact dwarf galaxies, objects with masses much greater than star clusters yet much smaller than dwarf galaxies. These findings confirm that many ultra-compact dwarf galaxies are likely the fossil remains of normal dwarf galaxies that have been stripped of their outer layers.
Gemini South Reveals Tangled Spiral Arms of the Peculiar Galaxy NGC 7727

Photo Release: 25 Oct. 2023 — noirlab2329

Gemini South Captures Cosmic ‘Cotton Candy’

Gemini South, one half of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, captures the billion-year-old aftermath of a spiral galaxy collision. At the heart of this chaotic interaction, entwined and caught in the midst of the chaos, is a pair of supermassive black holes — the nearest pair to Earth ever recorded.

Images of the Week

The Cosmic Road from Cerro Tololo

29 Nov. 2023 — iotw2348

The Cosmic Road from Cerro Tololo
A Grand Design of Imperfections

22 Nov. 2023 — iotw2347

A Grand Design of Imperfections
Hawaiian Snow

15 Nov. 2023 — iotw2346

Hawaiian Snow
Kitt Peak National Observatory at the Cutting Edge

8 Nov. 2023 — iotw2345

Kitt Peak National Observatory at the Cutting Edge
Blooming of the Spare Tyre Nebula

1 Nov. 2023 — iotw2344

Blooming of the Spare Tyre Nebula
Galactic ‘Art’ above Cerro-Tololo

25 Oct. 2023 — iotw2343

Galactic ‘Art’ above Cerro-Tololo
Gemini North’s New 3D Vision

18 Oct. 2023 — iotw2342

Gemini North’s New 3D Vision
Rainbow on Maunakea

11 Oct. 2023 — iotw2341

Rainbow on Maunakea
Kitt Peak in Recovery

4 Oct. 2023 — iotw2340

Kitt Peak in Recovery
Maunakea’s Shadow

27 Sept. 2023 — iotw2339

Maunakea’s Shadow

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Logo of the NOIRLab stories shining a light on people, sci and tech

Peering Back to the Early Universe

19 Sept. 2023

Peering Back to the Early Universe: A Story of Confirmation and Refutation

Last year astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope peered back to the very distant, very early Universe and found what appeared to be some of the earliest galaxies ever observed, thought to have formed when the Universe was less than 500 million years old. Using follow-up spectroscopy, two NOIRLab astronomers confirmed the ages of two of these early galaxies, but they also revealed how a third galaxy had astronomers fooled.
Artist's impression of a black hole and accretion disk

24 Aug. 2023

Accretion Disks: How Big Are They Really?

Using the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, astronomers have detected for the first time evidence of the presence of an accretion disk within the active galactic nucleus of galaxy III Zw 002. Using two rare and peculiar near-infrared emission lines, these observations place firm limits on the size of the galaxy’s accretion disk and shed new light on its geometry and behavior.
Debris from a star destroyed by supermassive black hole are flung into space

3 Aug. 2023

An Enigmatic Cosmic Crime Scene

During a dive through archival data, astronomers unearth an unusual tidal disruption event that occurred in a nearby star-forming galaxy. Obscured by the interstellar medium, this incredibly close and luminous event went unnoticed for seven years. The SOAR telescope’s integral role in pinpointing its uncommon location illustrates how future searches for tidal disruption events will be conducted.
NOIRlab Launched Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors

20 July 2023

Newly Launched Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors Project Assembles Team of Citizen Scientists to Hunt for Brown Dwarfs in Our Cosmic Backyard

Calling all citizen scientists! NSF’s NOIRLab has launched Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors, a hunt through our cosmic backyard in search of brown dwarfs. Expanding on the successful Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, Cool Neighbors combines the power of machine learning with crowdsourced data analysis to uncover elusive neighbors of our Sun.
Dark Energy Survey deep field image

5 July 2023

The Dark Energy Survey: Uncovering the Invisible

The Dark Energy Survey was a six-year observing program designed to survey the skies in order to better understand dark energy — a complex concept that developed when scientists realized that the Universe seemed to be breaking its own supposedly immutable laws of physics. But how do you observe something that cannot be seen? And why are scientists so convinced that there is really something to search for?

Our Programs

Logo of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

From the first observations in 1965, Cerro Tololo, located in Chile, has served as the principal platform for U.S. astronomical investigation of the southern skies.

Logo of the Community Science and Data Center

Programs within the Community Science and Data Center support and enable a broad range of astronomical community science activities across the US ground-based optical and infrared system.

Logo of the Kitt Peak National Observatory

Founded in 1958, Kitt Peak National Observatory is home to one of the largest arrays of optical and radio telescopes in the world.

Logo of the International Gemini Observatory

The Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8.1-meter diameter optical/infrared telescopes located on two of the best observing sites on the planet.

Logo of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Vera C. Rubin Observatory, currently under construction on Cerro Pachón in Chile, is an 8-meter-class telescope coupled to a 3.2-gigapixel camera – the world’s largest digital camera ever fabricated for optical astronomy.