NOIRLab

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/no…

The world’s most powerful multi-object spectrograph has finished tracking the locations of 47 MILLION+ galaxies & quasars! 🔭🌀These are represented with a dot in 3D space in this 📹 📷DESI Collaboration & DESI Member Institutions/DOE/KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Proctor/M. Zamani

Congratulations Tony Tyson! ✨

This image of the Small Magellanic Cloud was captured with a camera and a wide-aperture telephoto lens from Cerro Pachón in 🇨🇱, after almost 4 hrs of exposure. 📸 NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Horálek

Want to know our top-performing country for @GlobeatNight for 2026? So far in 2026, our biggest contributors are... 🥇 United States 🇺🇸 🥈Japan 🇯🇵 🥉Australia 🇦🇺 #DarkSkiesWeek

We found this in the family album 🥹 In January 1998, the Gemini South telescope was just steel and scaffolding on Cerro Pachón in Chile. Gemini South is one half of the International @GeminiObs, operated by NSF NOIRLab. 📷: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Sebring (SOAR)

20 years of dark sky data didn’t come out of nowhere, it came from you! (Thank you, by the way) @GlobeatNight couldn’t exist without you. 🥰 If you’re wondering, “what exactly is Globe at Night?” then swipe to learn! #DarkSkyWeek

NSF-DOE @VRubinObs will detect millions of changes in the sky each night. These alerts contain: 📍 Sky position ✨ Brightness 📈 Recent history 🪐 Orbit info (asteroids/comets) 🖼️ Image cutouts 📷: NSF–DOE @VRubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/P. Horálek

📸 CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA/J. Pollard/D. de Martin & M. Zamani

Astronomers have combined decades of observations to produce one of the most precise measurements yet of how fast the local Universe is expanding. @NOIRLabastro contributed data from @Cerrotololo and @KittPeakNatObs. 🔗 bit.ly/4tZSAyn

✨ April Globe at Night is here! Go outside after sunset and find Leo. Then compare what you see with the star charts and submit your observation 🌍 It only takes a few minutes and helps track light pollution worldwide. 📲 globeatnight.org

What do Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have in common? They’re the outer giants of our Solar System. In other words, they are huge planets made mostly of gas and ice, with deep atmospheres instead of solid ground, located beyond the asteroid belt.

A fireball over Hawai‘i 🔥🌌 Captured above @Geminiobs North telescope, a blazing rock streaks through Earth’s atmosphere, lighting up the sky in a fleeting moment.This view comes from the Gemini North Cloudcam. 📷: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Ahhh, the views… golden hour at NSF @CerroTololo in Chile really is something special. ✨ What looks like a quiet mountaintop is actually one of the busiest observing sites in the world, with more than 40 telescopes sharing the summit 🔭 📹CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Matsopoulos

This Global Astronomy Month, we’re highlighting some of our favorite weird objects in space! Share your favorite space objects in the comments below ⬇️📲

Our favorite play? Probably Much Ado About Nebulae 🎭 A bit farther than Messina, Italy, these cosmic scenes take place thousands of light-years away! Check out more images of these nightly dramas at 🔗noirlab.edu/public/images

Spot the viscacha 🔍🐇 Somewhere in this 📷 of NSF–DOE @VRubinObs is a viscacha — a furry, rabbit-like rodent related to chinchillas. It’s well-camouflaged for the foothills of the Chilean Andes, don’t you think? 📷NSF–DOE @VRubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/I. Sullivan

Using preliminary testing data from NSF–DOE @VRubinObs, scientists have discovered over 11,000 new asteroids. And this is only a first taste of what’s to come! Read more: noirlab.edu/public/news/no… Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/R. Proctor

Ever wondered what it’s like inside a world-class telescope? 🔭 Go inside the @Geminiobs North telescope with this timelapse. The glowing beam you see is a laser used for adaptive optics. 📹@GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/S. Goebel

NSF–DOE @VRubinObs eyes are open 👁️ From Cerro Pachón, Rubin is ready for the night. Its 3200-megapixel LSST Camera will scan the southern sky, spotting faint galaxies and helping unlock the secrets of dark matter. 🌌 📷 NSF–DOE @VRubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/H. Stockebrand