Image of the Week

29 November 2023: The ‘way’ to the Universe begins at Cerro Tololo. In this incredible image, the Milky Way, which appears as a glowing cosmic road ascending to the heavens, seems to start at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. And indeed, the road towards understanding some cosmic phenomena does start at CTIO! Earlier this year, the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope (left) made the first confirmed detection of an extremely rare pair of stars that will someday become a kilonova. One of the most energetic events in the Universe, kilonovae are the explosions that result when two neutron stars merge. These astronomical events are so powerful that they can create heavy elements like gold and silver! So finding a progenitor system like this can shed more light on where heavy elements come from. The SMARTS 0.9-meter Telescope (right) helped answer the question: “How small can a star go?” In 2013, …

22 November 2023: With its swirling arms and luminous core, NGC 5364 is unmistakably a spiral galaxy, lying in the constellation Virgo. But it’s not just any spiral galaxy imaged by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. This eye-catching stellar body is classified as a grand design spiral galaxy. Grand design spiral galaxies are characterized by prominent, well-defined arms that circle outwards from a distinct core. Only ten percent of spiral galaxies are given this descriptive name and they are considered the archetype of spiral galaxies owing to their ‘perfect’ structure. However, NGC 5364 is not as perfect as it may appear. Compared to other grand design spirals, its arms are actually amorphous and asymmetrical. This distortion is thought to be due to interactions with the nearby lenticular galaxy NGC 5363, which can be seen in …

15 November 2023: While many know Hawai‘i for its tropical weather and volcanoes, at high altitudes winter storms can bring snow. This frequently falls atop Maunakea in Hawai‘i, one of five volcanoes that form the island of Hawai‘i. Maunakea (altitude 4200 meters, or about 14,000 feet) is home to the Gemini North telescope, part of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab. Fortunately for Gemini North and the other telescopes located here, snowfall on Maunakea happens only a few times each winter. For the rest of the year, it is not uncommon for astronomers to look down and see nothing but an array of clouds below them.

8 November 2023: Founded in 1958, Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, is home to one of the largest collections of optical and radio telescopes in the world. The 24 optical and two radio telescopes sit on Kitt Peak, the highest point in the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, 88 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Tucson, Arizona. Of those telescopes, 13 are captured in this image. In its 60 years of operation KPNO has set records and achieved many firsts. The Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope (left), named after KPNO’s second director, Nicholas Ulrich Mayall, was the second-largest telescope in the world at the time of its construction in 1973. In 1976 Mayall was used to discover methane ice on Pluto. The oldest telescope at KPNO, the UArizona 0.9-meter Spacewatch Telescope, seen slightly below the Mayall telescope in this photo, houses the first …

1 November 2023: IC 5148, nicknamed the Spare Tyre Nebula, is a beautiful planetary nebula located about 3000 light-years away near the ‘neck’ of the southern constellation Grus (The Crane). This image, captured with the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, showcases the looming cloud of gas of IC 1548 and the central stellar remnant from which the gas radiates. It’s one of the fastest expanding planetary nebulae, pushing out into space at 180,000 kilometers per hour (112,000 miles per hour). With small telescopes, this nebula looks like a bright central star with an outer ring. The mesmerizing layers of gas are faint. They are almost undetectable without the use of larger telescopes, and not with the clarity captured in this image using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on Gemini South. Around the time IC 5148 was discovered by astronomers in 1894, researchers coined the …

25 October 2023: The dark skies of the Andean mountains come alive as a dazzling light show in this panorama of the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Standing in the foreground are some of the observatory’s biggest telescopes: (left to right) the decommissioned CHilean Automatic Supernova sEarch (CHASE), the SMARTS 1-meter Telescope, the Curtis Schmidt Telescope, the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope, the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope, and the SMARTS 0.9-meter Telescope. The sepia-like whites and browns of the ground-based observatory stand in contrast with the background, a colorful painting on the black canvas of space. While painters might use oil or watercolor, the medium of this painting is light itself. The thick impasto-style stroke at the center of this cosmic artwork is the Milky Way which appears as a textured arch of light. Plastered along the arch are dark patches collectively known as The Great Rift, colossal clouds of …

18 October 2023: Over the past two decades, the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) on the Gemini North telescope has peered into faraway quasars, ancient galaxies, and puzzling brown dwarfs. Now, this incredibly productive instrument of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF's NOIRLab, is equipped with an integral field spectrograph. This upgrade effectively gives Gemini North ‘3D vision'. As illustrated in this infographic, GNIRS can now take a 2D field of view and extract a spectrum out of every pixel in near infrared. Standard spectroscopy would create this spectrum for only the entire field of view. This week’s Image of the Week shows the new spectroscopic capacity of GNIRS using NGC 6240 (nicknamed the Starfish Galaxy). The galaxy is a messy merger between two, maybe even three, smaller galaxies. At the center of the NGC 6240 are two distinct cores, seen in the infographic as two columns inside the spectrum. Studies have shown …

11 October 2023: From the vantage point of Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, a small rainbow can be seen sprouting from behind smaller peaks near the summit of Maunakea. One of the five volcanoes constituting the Big Island of Hawai‘i, Maunakea rises to an elevation of 4205 meters (13,786 feet). At that elevation, tropical clouds infrequently cover the summit, but they often roll past at lower altitude, as seen here, bringing some moisture to the dry area. These water droplets suspended in the air would typically be invisible, but their presence is betrayed when light is refracted through them. The droplets become like prisms, slowing and then separating the almost white sunlight into its component colors. The result is a spectacular spectrum of light — a rainbow — that is beautifully complimented by the red soil of the volcano and deep blue of the sky. …

4 October 2023: The summer of 2022 was a precarious time for Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. On Saturday 11 June the Contreras Fire began on a remote ridge of the Baboquivari Mountains, south of Kitt Peak. The fire swept through the Tohono O’odham Nation, including the Quinlan Mountains where KPNO is located. The burnt trees seen here show how far the fire climbed yup the mountains, ending just feet away from the KPNO 2.1-meter Telescope, WIYN 0.9-meter Telescope, Visitor Center Levine 0.4-meter Telescope, and WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope (left to right). A few days after the fire began, the observatory was evacuated and KPNO staff worked quickly to shut down the scientific instruments. By the evening of 24 June the fire around KPNO had grown to almost 30,000 acres. Courageous fire crews subdued the fire on Kitt Peak by 28 June, allowing KPNO staff to evaluate the impact …

27 September 2023: This image, taken at sunrise, shows the blue shadow of Maunakea in Hawai‘i, home to the Gemini North telescope, tapering into an eerily symmetrical triangle. While Maunakea is vaguely triangular in shape, it is far from a perfect Euclidean pyramid, so why should the shadow appear so symmetrical? An identical triangular shadow phenomenon can be seen from the tops of many mountains or volcanoes at sunset or sunrise. The key to understanding this effect is that the viewer is staring down a lengthy ‘corridor’ of a sunrise (or sunset) shadow that reaches to the horizon. Even if the massive volcano were a perfect cube, a column, or really any other shape, the resulting shadow would appear to taper off at its summit as this part of the shadow extends far into the distance. You can see a similar effect with parallel railroad lines, hallways, or any other long and straight …

20 September 2023: Far, far away in the constellation Phoenix, two interacting galaxies meet in an epic battle spanning a hundred thousand light-years, captured here with the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Collectively known as NGC 454, the upper galaxy is a red elliptical galaxy called NGC 454 E, while below it is NGC 454 W, a blue, gas-rich irregular galaxy. Despite being in the early stages of their interaction, both galaxies already show severe distortion. Remnants of both galaxies have been stretched far beyond their main bodies, from the disarray of both galaxies’ stellar populations at the top right of this image to the globular clusters forming at NGC 454 W’s bottom-left side. Dust lanes from the dynamic interaction cross NGC 454 E, and NGC 454 W barely looks like the disk galaxy it was thought to be. The early merger …

13 September 2023: The bright band of the Milky Way seems to spill from the open dome of the Rubin Auxiliary Telescope (AuxTel) in this image from the recent NOIRLab 2022 Photo Expedition. As well as the spectacular Milky Way, replete with intricate clouds of gas and dust, an amorphous airglow is visible along both horizons. The AuxTel will take a variety of measurements and calibrations during the operations of Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. These complementary data will be used to understand atmospheric conditions and make scientific observations more accurate as Rubin Observatory conducts its decade-long sky survey. In contrast to the new Simonyi Survey Telescope of Rubin Observatory, the AuxTel was repurposed for use at the observatory, a donation from astronomer Edgar Smith. Rubin Observatory is a joint initiative of the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy (DOE). Once completed, Rubin will be operated …

6 September 2023: Near the summit of Maunakea, Gemini North — the northern half of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF’s NOIRLab — sits high above the clouds of Hawai‘i in the company of other Maunakea observatories. Being at an altitude of approximately 4200 meters (nearly 14,000 feet) above sea level allows the telescope to capture amazing views of the world beyond Earth’s atmosphere. In addition, Gemini North’s location also grants it stable weather and atmospheric conditions for many nights a year, giving a perfectly clear picture of the sky. At such a high elevation, clouds often form below the summit to form a cloud deck. As is the case in this image however, there are times when clouds accumulate higher in the sky above these facilities. Of course, a few high clouds will not stop astronomers from using Gemini North to make the most of their observations!

30 August 2023: The western horizon looks especially eye-catching in this image of the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Beneath the glittering band of the Milky Way galaxy sprouts a cone of hazy, pastel light known as zodiacal light. This light shines along the ecliptic — the plane of our Solar System and the path of our Sun in the sky — meaning it appears just before dawn breaks or after dusk ends. With its soft white shine, the phenomenon is sometimes referred to as ‘false dawn’ or ‘false dusk’. However, unlike the reddish skies of true dawn and dusk which are caused by Earth’s atmosphere, the zodiacal light originates far beyond our planet: zodiacal light is caused by sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust lying between the inner planets of our Solar System.

23 August 2023: The vantage point of the foothills of the Chilean Andes provides some of the best views of the night sky in the world, especially from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Earth is oriented in such a way that most of the Milky Way can be seen on a clear night from the southern hemisphere, where CTIO is located. Beneath the oblique arms of our galaxy lie, left to right, the US Naval Observatory Deep South Telescope, DIMM1 Seeing Monitor, CHilean Automatic Supernova sEarch dome, aTmCam (straight back), SMARTS 1.0-meter Telescope, UBC Southern Observatory, and Curtis Schmidt Telescope . A noteworthy feature of this image is the Milky Way’s galactic center, which appears to set the galaxy itself ablaze. Despite the clouds of interstellar dust obscuring its light, it continues to shine with the light of millions of stars. From our point of view, the heart …

16 August 2023: The Milky Way and colorful celestial objects stretch over Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, in this image of the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope. This telescope is used to hunt for and characterize exoplanets with the NEID (pronounced NOO-id, rhymes with “fluid”) spectrograph, a state-of-the-art instrument for highly precise measurements of stellar movements. Above the WIYN telescope is a pantheon of constellations and their stellar companions. To the left, near the tree, is the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, that indicates the constellation Canis Major (the Great Dog). To its right is the constellation Orion (the Hunter) marked by the bright red supergiant star Betelgeuse of Orion’s ‘right shoulder’ and three inline stars that form his ‘belt’. The glowing red regions in the constellation are part of the Orion molecular cloud complex. Shockwaves from newly formed stars excite these and other areas of molecular hydrogen, which …

9 August 2023: In the constellation Sculptor lies this large extended spiral galaxy called NGC 289. Despite being around 75 million light-years away, the light of NGC 289 is stunningly captured here by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The galaxy’s bluish arms reach through the expanse of space over 100,000 light-years, larger than the size of our own Milky Way. It’s classified as a Type II Seyfert galaxy with its ripe collections of star formation and bright core, but it’s also relatively faint. Studies have found that the galaxy contains large amounts of dark matter, which is a common feature of all galaxies with a low surface brightness. Dark matter is yet to be directly observed, which led the US Department of Energy to build the DECam in order to study the nature of dark …

2 August 2023: Beautiful sunsets often grace the telescopes of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Pictured here are the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope (foreground), the SMARTS 1.5-meter, 0.9-meter, and 1.0-meter Telescopes, the Curtis Schmidt Telescope, and many more of the 40+ NOIRLab-operated telescopes in the foothills of the Chilean Andes. At 2200 meters (7200 feet) above sea level and in its relatively isolated position, Cerro Tololo is the perfect place to observe the southern skies. In fact, the summit takes its name from the way it drops away steeply on the northern side, as described by the local Indigenous Diaguita people. After 60 years of fruitful discoveries, CTIO continues to push the boundaries of astronomy with bountiful observations of the abyss up above.

26 July 2023: In this panorama, the Milky Way galaxy curves over the summit of Maunakea in Hawai‘i like an arched gateway to the cosmos. The 8.1-meter Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, is visible at the center of the image, and the University of Hawaii 2.2-meter telescope is to its right. From atop the long-dormant volcano, in the dry air of the Pacific, Gemini North and its neighboring telescopes are superbly located for infrared observations. The infrared capabilities of Gemini North — and its twin telescope Gemini South in the southern hemisphere — allow astronomers to see through the cosmic dust that blocks visible light from stars and galaxies. They are also optimal for peering into the cold corners of the Universe. Gemini North has detected the potential first traces of the Universe’s earliest stars, confirmed the presence of an ultra-faint fossil galaxy, and detected …

19 July 2023: Underneath the clear blue sky of Cerro Pachón ridge in Chile, construction continues on Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The 8.4-meter telescope is equipped with a 3.2-gigapixel camera — the world’s largest digital camera ever fabricated for optical astronomy — and is expected to see first light at the end of 2024. It will conduct an unprecedented, decade-long survey of the optical sky called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). This survey will aim to capture nearly 1000 images of the sky every night. The observations will detect 10 million changes in the sky per night and over the survey’s ten-year timeline they will produce a 15-petabyte catalog database. Dedicated computer facilities will process Rubin Observatory data in real time, issuing worldwide public alerts within 60 seconds of any detected changes in the sky. This massive amount of astronomical data will be a game-changing …