NOIRLab

NOIRLab serves as a focal point for community development of innovative scientific programs, the exchange of ideas, and domestic and international collaborations. Why was NOIRLab created? NOIRLab serves as a focal point for community development of innovative scientific programs, the exchange of ideas and creative development. The lab's programs en... able the astronomy community to advance our understanding of the Universe by exploring significant areas of astrophysics, including dark energy and dark matter, galaxies and quasars, the Milky Way, exoplanets, and small bodies in our own Solar System. With the Community Science and Data Center, the integrated astronomy lab facilities will be able to develop the necessary data analysis and observational follow-up capabilities for this exploration, coordinate high-spatial-resolution imaging and spectroscopy of selected sources, and organize data services for accessing, querying, and analyzing petascale datasets. Where is NOIRLab located? NOIRLab is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, in the same building where offices for Kitt Peak Operations, Vera C. Rubin Observatory Operations in the US and the Community Science and Data Center are located. The building formerly housed NOAO. NOIRLab's observing facilities are located on Iolkam Du'ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai'i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in Chile. The Chilean offices for Gemini South, Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile and Cerro Tololo are located in La Serena, Chile. Gemini North offices are in Hilo, Hawai'i. See Contacts page for a complete list of the facilities.Read More