Credit: National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory/AURA/NSF/P. Marenfeld
NOAO Unites with Gemini and LSST
As of 1 October 2019, NOAO has joined with Gemini Observatory and LSST operations to create a new organization, NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NSF’s OIR Lab). As the preeminent US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, the new organization brings together diverse pathways for astronomical exploration, serves as a focal point for community coordination and collaboration, and enables the discoveries of the future. The integration is part of a long-term evolutionary trend and is reminiscent of the origin of NOAO itself.
Read more in this Currents article and in the NSF’s OIR Lab press release.
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NEID, on the 3.5-m WIYN telescope on KPNO, has made its first observations. It will measure the motion of nearby stars with extreme precision, allowing us to typify Earth-sized exoplanets. -
DESI, a new instrument on the Kitt Peak 4-m Mayall telescope has opened its array of thousands of fiber-optic “eyes” to the cosmos and successfully captured the light from distant galaxies. -
Dynamical footprints of two ancient migration events have been uncovered in our galactic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, using the KPNO Mayall and Gemini North telescopes. -
Astronomers have discovered the most distant protocluster of galaxies detected to date, 13 billion light years away. NOAO astronomer Chien-Hsiu Lee is a member of the discovery team. -
The Event Horizon Telescope team that made the first image of a supermassive black hole has been awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. NOAO Astronomer Tod Lauer is a team member. -
Pandia, Ersa, Eirene, Philophrosyne and Eupheme — these are the new names of five of the moons of Jupiter that were discovered last year with the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco 4-m telescope at CTIO. -
The SOAR telescope at CTIO has just completed the first observing night for AEON, a new network of telescopes designed to enable rapid follow up of the changing night sky.
