@NSF NOIRLab is the preeminent US national center for ground-based, nighttime optical and infrared astronomy. Para español siga a @NOIRLabAstroES
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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.
🔗noirlab.edu/public/news/noir…
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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
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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)
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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
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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: ow.ly/2OV350ZQkr4
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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. 🍃🌎🍂
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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:
🔗 ow.ly/BBRu50ZPFEO
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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
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POV: You’re at @GeminiObs South and decide to look up
Gemini South beneath the Milky Way, with our galaxy's center glowing overhead. 🌌
📷: International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab/AURA/Kwon O Chul
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The Moon serving three different looks on a night out 💁♀️✨This collage shows the Moon on 3 Mar 2026, captured from NSF @KittPeakNatObs
The opening reception — A full Moon
The main event — An eclipsed Moon
The afterparty — A distorted Moon
📸KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Horálek
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High atop Cerro Pachón in Chile, the 4.1-meter SOAR Telescope gives astronomers a powerful view of the southern sky. Built for speed and precision, SOAR explores the cosmos from optical to near-infrared light.
Can you tell us what SOAR stands for? 🤔
📷 CTIO/SOAR/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
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If you fall into a black hole, stretch thoroughly to avoid muscle cramps during spaghettification. Space-time distortions give you plenty of time near the event horizon to get limber.
🖼️ Milky Way over NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope
📷 CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. Tafreshi
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When your day ends, our day begins. 🌇✨🔭
As the sun dips below the foothills of the Chilean Andes, NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory wakes up to explore the cosmos.
📷: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
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Nearly two months after a severe weather system caused unprecedented damage in Chile’s Coquimbo Region, NSF NOIRLab’s mountain facilities are now operational, with staff from all Programs working on the summits.
📷 NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
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🌍✨ You’re invited!
Join DarkSky for Under One Sky 2026, a global conference organized by @IDADarkSky, bringing together a growing movement to protect dark skies and the nighttime environment.
Learn more about Under One Sky 2026 at conference.darksky.org.
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⭐️ STAR CLUSTER SOCIAL DYNAMICS ⭐️
Open clusters: Friends drifting apart, only texting on social media for 10+ million years.
Globular clusters: Friends who bought houses on the same block, hanging out every weekend for 10+ billion years.
📷: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA
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🌼🔭 In the mid-1970s, winter rains turned the Sonoran Desert near NSF @KittPeakNatObs into a sea of California poppies with an 18-story telescope rising in the distance. A pretty spectacular combination. 🌵
📷 Carey Portnoy/KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
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A team of astronomers have discovered the most distant proto-supercluster ever found 🤯
Known as COSMOS-z3.1-A, this enormous ancestor to a “cluster of clusters” of galaxies has a mass equivalent to about 5,000 Milky Ways.
🔗 noirlab.edu/public/news/noir…
📷CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA
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🔭 Only a few days left to apply!
Applications for the NSF NOIRLab REU program close September 9.
Don’t miss your chance to gain hands-on research experience and work alongside astronomers under Chile’s incredible southern skies. 🇨🇱✨
👉 Apply now: noirlab.edu/science/resource…
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Following the severe storm that affected Chile’s Coquimbo Region in July, restoration and maintenance work continues at AURA/NSF NOIRLab’s observatory sites.
Thanks to the tremendous teamwork of our staff, we are getting closer to returning our telescopes to normal operations. 🧵
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The large bus has resumed trips to @CerroTololo, while minibuses can now reach Cerro Pachón in addition to the 4x4 vehicles already in use. Hotels and cafeterias are open at both sites, allowing more personnel to return to the mountains and some teams to resume shift work.
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