Press Releases

The Ominous Chamaeleon I Dark Cloud

Photo Release: 10 June 2025 — noirlab2519

Dark Energy Camera Captures Sparse Pockets of Light Amongst Dark Clouds of Chamaeleon I

The ominous Chamaeleon I dark cloud, the nearest star-forming region to Earth, is captured in this image taken with the 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. Chamaeleon I is one portion of the larger Chamaeleon Complex and is home to three reflection nebulae that are brightly illuminated by nearby newly formed stars.
Movie Poster for the Messengers of Time and Space Planetarium Show

Organization Release: 22 May 2025 — noirlab2518

NSF NOIRLab Presents Messengers of Time and Space Planetarium Show

Messengers of Time and Space is a new fulldome planetarium show designed to illuminate the imminent revolution in astronomy driven by time-domain and multi-messenger observations. This free, immersive experience invites audiences to explore the dynamic cosmos and witness the transformative impact of real-time data on our understanding of the Universe.
Rubin Observatory Observing Variable Stars

Organization Release: 14 May 2025 — noirlab2517

NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Will Unlock New Understanding of Variable Stars

NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, will soon collect an unprecedented amount of data on the changing southern night sky. By observing millions of stars that change in brightness, Rubin will allow for studies of the inner workings of variable stars and help define the edges of our galaxy.
Dark Energy Camera Captures Circinus West Molecular Cloud

Science Release: 24 April 2025 — noirlab2515

Circinus West: A Dark Nebula Harboring a Nest of Newly Formed Stars

A celestial shadow known as the Circinus West molecular cloud creeps across this image captured from Chile with the 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera — one of the most powerful digital cameras in the world. Within this stellar nursery's opaque boundaries, infant stars ignite within cold, dense gas and dust, while outflows hurtle leftover material into space.
Zhúlóng: The most distant spiral galaxy

Science Release: 16 April 2025 — noirlab2516

NSF NOIRLab Astronomer Discovers Oldest Known Spiral Galaxy in the Universe

An international team led by NSF NOIRLab astronomer Christina Williams has discovered the most distant spiral galaxy known to date. Named Zhúlóng, meaning ‘Torch Dragon’ in Chinese mythology, this ultra-massive system existed just one billion years after the Big Bang, and yet it shows a surprisingly mature structure. Zhúlóng was discovered as part of the PANORAMIC Survey conducted on the James Webb Space Telescope.

Images of the Week

Arcs and Angles at Kitt Peak

11 June 2025 — iotw2524

Arcs and Angles at Kitt Peak
A Cerulean Moonrise over CTIO

4 June 2025 — iotw2523

A Cerulean Moonrise over CTIO
Fireball Over Kitt Peak

28 May 2025 — iotw2522

Fireball Over Kitt Peak
A Peaceful Panorama on Maunakea

21 May 2025 — iotw2521

A Peaceful Panorama on Maunakea
Dawning of Venus at Cerro-Tololo

14 May 2025 — iotw2520

Dawning of Venus at Cerro-Tololo
Rocket Launch Dazzles Kitt Peak Visitors

7 May 2025 — iotw2519

Rocket Launch Dazzles Kitt Peak Visitors
Cosmic Community of Abell 1489

30 April 2025 — iotw2518

Cosmic Community of Abell 1489
Seeing Double?

23 April 2025 — iotw2517

Seeing Double?
All (Star) Trails Lead to Rubin

16 April 2025 — iotw2516

All (Star) Trails Lead to Rubin
The Moon: Inspiration and Frustration

9 April 2025 — iotw2515

The Moon: Inspiration and Frustration

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Group Photo Before LSST Camera Installation

12 June 2025

Lights, Camera, Cosmos: The Cast and Crew Behind Rubin Observatory

Have you ever been to a movie that was so good you didn’t want it to end? Did you sit in the theater mesmerized as the credits rolled, marveling at the people it took to make such an incredible film? NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is making a movie like that.
Gravitational lensing 1

5 June 2025

Dialing Gravitational Lensing Research up to 11

Before light from distant stars can reach telescopes on Earth, it must travel through space. Its path is not always a straight one. Massive objects like the Sun warp space around them. When light is bent on its way through a warped area of space, the effect is called gravitational lensing.
HAT-P-70 b

27 May 2025

GHOST Spies Ultra-hot Jupiter With Ultra-fast Winds

An international team of astronomers recently used GHOST, the new flagship high-resolution spectrograph at the Gemini South telescope, to observe an ultra-hot Jupiter — a scorching antithesis to our Solar System’s Jupiter. This first-ever high-resolution exoplanet transit observed by GHOST showcases its incredible aptitude at studying the 3D nature of the atmospheres of distant worlds.
Coming soon: Rubin data

15 May 2025

Ready, Set, Process: Preparing for Rubin Observatory's Data Deluge

In astrophysics, data are a precious commodity. They are scientists’ raw material, their starting point, their playground. Here, data begin with images of the sky, of distant galaxies, of stars in motion. From each image, scientists extract a trove of information such as brightness, position, velocity, and color. The principle is simple: The more sky you observe, and the more often you observe it, the greater your chances of catching the Universe’s rarest and most fleeting phenomena.
Sandbox 1

23 April 2025

Sharpening our cosmic focus

Three decades ago, physicist Tony Tyson sat in the control room of the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, located on a mountaintop in Chile. At the time, the Blanco telescope, part of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, was one of the largest and most advanced telescopes in the world.

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.