Press Releases 2025

24 April 2025: 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.

16 April 2025: 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.

8 April 2025: Using observations from the Gemini South telescope in Chile, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, astronomers have constructed a 3D representation of the newly discovered near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4. The team determined that the unusually-shaped rock is one of the largest objects in recent history that could impact the Moon, and that it likely originated from the main asteroid belt.

19 March 2025: A groundbreaking new study using the Dark Energy Survey (DES) final datasets suggests potential inconsistencies in the standard cosmological model, known as ΛCDM. If confirmed, these findings could fundamentally alter our understanding of the Universe. DES was conducted using the 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab.

19 March 2025: The DESI collaboration has published a new analysis of dark energy using their first three years of collected data, which spans nearly 15 million galaxies and quasars. Combined with studies of the cosmic microwave background, supernovae, and weak lensing, the analysis hints that dark energy changes over time. Data Release 1, containing data from DESI’s survey validation and first year of observations, has now been made available for scientists and the public to explore.

12 March 2025: Using the largest digital camera in the world, Rubin Observatory will soon be ready to capture more data than any other observatory in history

11 March 2025: Using in part the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, astronomers have discovered four sub-Earth exoplanets orbiting Barnard’s Star, the nearest single star system to Earth. One of the planets is the least massive exoplanet ever discovered using the radial velocity technique, indicating a new benchmark for discovering smaller planets around nearby stars.

5 March 2025: Using the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, and the Magellan Baade Telescope, astronomers have for the first time observed a recurring nova outside of the Milky Way in near-infrared light. The data revealed highly unusual chemical emissions as well as one of the hottest temperatures ever reported for a nova, both indicative of an extremely violent eruption.

19 February 2025: Within the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument’s early data, scientists have uncovered the largest samples ever of intermediate-mass black holes and dwarf galaxies hosting an active black hole, more than tripling the existing census of both. These large statistical samples will allow for more in-depth studies of the dynamics between dwarf galaxy evolution and black hole growth, and open up vast discovery potential surrounding the evolution of the Universe’s earliest black holes.

14 February 2025: Displaying wispy layers of red, orange and yellow, the nebula encasing NGC 2040 resembles a vibrant rose in this image captured by the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, which is supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab. This nebulous flower showcases the dramatic story of stellar life, death and rebirth.

6 February 2025: Making use of the Gemini North telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, astronomers have characterized the largest-ever early-Universe radio jet. Historically, such large radio jets have remained elusive in the distant Universe. With these observations, astronomers have valuable new insights into when the first jets formed in the Universe and how they impacted the evolution of galaxies.

4 February 2025: Using in part the NEID spectrograph mounted on the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope at the U.S. National Science Foundation Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, a team of astronomers have confirmed the existence of exoplanet Gaia-4b — one of the most massive planets known to orbit a low-mass star. Gaia-4b is also the first planet detected by the European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft using the astrometric technique.

3 February 2025: Journey Through the Universe — a partnership between the International Gemini Observatory, funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, and the Hawaiʻi Department of Education Hilo-Waiākea Complex Area — celebrates 21 years of cosmic exploration with Hawai‘i students and the community. This year’s exciting program includes classroom presentations, career panels, public events and more!

22 January 2025: 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 witness the explosions of millions of dying stars. Scientists use the light from these events to measure cosmic distances and study dark energy’s effect on the Universe’s expansion. Over its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time, Rubin could change our understanding of how — and when — the Universe formed.

15 January 2025: By combining data from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys and the Gemini South telescope, astronomers have investigated three ultra-faint dwarf galaxies that reside in a region of space isolated from the environmental influence of larger objects. The galaxies, located in the direction of NGC 300, were found to contain only very old stars, supporting the theory that events in the early Universe cut star formation short in the smallest galaxies.

1 January 2025: NSF NOIRLab rings in the New Year with a glittering galaxyscape captured with the 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 in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. This ultra-deep view of the Antlia Cluster reveals a spectacular array of galaxy types amongst the hundreds that make up its population.