NOAO Office of Public Affairs and Educational Outreach

Public Affairs

The Public Affairs branch of the PA/EO Department at NOAO encompasses a range of efforts to communicate the astronomy that is happening at the National Observatory to the public.

Image Gallery

The NOAO Image Gallery is perhaps the most visible of our efforts. We have a world class gallery of astronomical images that are both beautiful and scientifically informative. Our images are consistently recognized at the Astronomy Picture of the Day and Space.com Image of the Day, and have been featured in Astronomy Magazine, Sky and Telescope, and many others, as well as textbooks and popular astronomy books around the world. And they are all available for you to view as well.

Current News

Our Current News page highlights mentions of our images in the press and elsewhere. It is also the place to find the latest press releases originating from NOAO, or from sites that use data obtained at one of our observing sites.

Kitt Peak Visitor Center

Kitt Peak is home to the largest collection of optical telescopes in the world. We are visited by more than 50,000 people each year. The Kitt Peak Visitor Center offers information kiosks, a gift shop as well as guided tours of several telescopes on the mountain.

Public Programs and Special Events

In addition to the popular Nightly Observing Program and Advanced Observing Program, the Visitor Center offers a number of ongoing public programs as well as special events, including classes for new owners of telescopes, CCD imaging and astrophotography.

This image is a color-coded picture of the archetypal starburst galaxy M82. It shows the horizontal stellar disk of the galaxy, which harbors its active star formation, and a perpendicular supergalactic wind of ionized gas powered by the energy released in the starburst. It is one of many images available in our Image Gallery.