NOIRLab

This is it. The FIRST released video from @VRubinObs. A new era of astronomy starts now! ✨ How many galaxies do you think are in this image? 10 MILLION 🤯 Here, Rubin’s view is focused on the southern region of the Virgo Cluster. 📹: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA

Meet PSR J2030+4415, the galaxy’s weirdest rave light: a gamma-ray pulsar, aka a dead star spinning so fast it beams radiation like a cosmic lighthouse. A teaspoon of it would weigh as much as Mount Everest. Do not stir into coffee. 📷: @GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Please stop tagging your location at the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy It’s 12 million light-years away 📍You're at your local coffee shop This image was captured by the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope in Chile. 📷: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector, D. de Martin & M. Zamani

Mayall your dreams come true 😴✨ While Tucson was sleeping earlier this year, the Aurora Borealis (aka the northern lights) were visible over the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at NSF @KittPeakNatObs. 📸DESI Collaboration/DOE/KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/L. Tyas

It’s meteors over the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope ☄️ Once the world’s most powerful solar telescope 💪🌞, @KittPeakNatObs’s McMath-Pierce is taking on a new role as the Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach. 📷KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Sparks

Pleiades appreciation post 🌟 This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic camera on the WIYN 0.9-meter Telescope at @KittPeakNatObs in Arizona. 📷: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), R. Cool (University of Arizona) and WIYN

She doesn’t know it yet, but… she will one day be the namesake for the most powerful survey observatory in the world. Happy Birthday Vera Rubin! The NSF–DOE @VRubinObs will continue her legacy. 🔭 📷: Carnegie Institution for Science 📷: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

The Universe is full of color! ✨ Here’s some of our favorite colorful nebulae– space clouds made of gas and dust. Which one is your favorite?

Say it 3 times: Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse. Astronomers using @Geminiobs North found a hidden companion star orbiting inside Betelgeuse’s atmosphere, the first close-in companion ever seen around a supergiant star. 🔗 noirlab.edu/public/news/no… 📷GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

🌟 Help measure sky brightness from wherever you are! 🌍✨ Join @GlobeAtNight & measure sky brightness until July 28, using just your phone, tablet, or computer! 📱💻 Every data point counts! Let’s hit 20,000 measurements by the end of 2025! 💫🌃 #LightPollution

This visualization of the Trifid Nebula, created from real imagery and research data, explores the complex structure of a beautiful star-forming region. The Trifid Nebula was prominent in the First Look images from NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. 📷: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Ilumbra

Science isn’t the only thing thriving at the top of Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón… 🦊🌿 From culpeo foxes to andean condors, discover the wildlife that shares the summit with our telescopes in this new Reel. Nature and astronomy, side by side.

🚀 Two @apod in two days! NOIRLab images were featured back-to-back on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day! 📸 July 16: Rosette Nebula (Blanco 4m) 📸 July 17: Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS (Gemini North) → apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250717.… #APOD #NOIRLab #CometATLAS #RosetteNebula

Two telescopes on @CerroTololo watched the Moon slip into shadow during the March 2025 lunar eclipse. Thanks to saros (18 years, 11 days, 8 hours), this eclipse will return in March 2043. Next one visible from @NOIRLabastro? March 2026. 📷: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Horálek

☄️ Interstellar visitor alert! @Geminiobs North in Hawai‘i captured Comet 3I/ATLAS, only the 3rd known object from outside our Solar System! 📷@GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/K. Meech (IfA/U. Hawaii) Image Processing:Jen Miller & Mahdi Zamani (NSF NOIRLab) 🔗 noirlab.edu/public/news/no…

This long-duration, fish-eye view of @Geminiobs North looks like a snow globe, but with stars instead of snow. ☃️The motions of the ⭐️ were captured through the night, along with the Gemini laser on the right, and the 🌙 on the left. 📸@GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. Pollard

Comet me bro 😤☄️ On the right of this pic is the Comet NEOWISE, captured at @Geminiobs North in 2020. Comets are icy bodies that warm up when they pass by the Sun, creating tails of gas as they travel. 📸@GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. Pollard

Ever feel overwhelmed and just need some space? 😮‍💨 Meet the Bubble Nebula, a glowing bubble 6 light-years wide. 🫧 Captured by the Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope in @cerrotololo, Chile 🇨🇱 📷T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Who's that telescope? 💥😱This is for all the astronomy pros out there! This telescope should be easy since it’s been getting a lot of attention recently! 😉 Did you guess it? It's NSF–DOE @VRubinObs! 📸 RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/W. O'Mullane

Say hello to the Fighting Dragons of Ara!🐉 In this constellation, dust and gas form 2 ‘dragons’ facing each other. They’re lit up along their edges from baby stars born within, forming an emission nebula. 📸DES/DOE/Fermilab/NCSA & CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Colombari & M. Zamani

The Universe really said, “let’s kick it!” ⚽️✨ Some nebulae form elegant spirals and clouds…K61 decided to become a soccer ball. 🤗 Nonetheless, Gemini North, one half of @GeminiObs, captured it beautifully. 😌 📷@GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA