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

The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope was the largest in the world when it saw first light in 1962. Now, it’s home to the NEW Windows Center opening on Dec 16, 2025! 🎟️ FREE tickets for Dec 16: https://t.co/wQkaPyrAp1 📷 KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T. Matsopoulos & D. Salman

This video of gravitational lensing comes from NOIRLab’s planetarium show, Messengers of Time and Space! The show is available for free in 4K fulldome format at https://t.co/7lLy57cKTm! 🍿 📹 @GeminiObs/Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Proctor

The remnants of a Chilean winter snow cling to Cerro Pachón, home to NSF–DOE @VRubinObs. Rubin will scan the sky for a decade to create the ultimate movie of the night sky using the largest camera ever built. 📷: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/A. Pizarro D.

Happy holidays from NSF NOIRLab! ⭐️We would like to wish you the best this holiday season, and a successful and prosperous 2026! As a little gift from us to you, enjoy this free holiday calendar 🎁 Download here: 🔗 https://t.co/0UqvEVYf4C

Anyone can help monitor light pollution, all you need is a smartphone! 🤳🌌 Join @GlobeAtNight for our last sky-measuring campaign of 2025, running December 14–23. Whether you use a phone, tablet, or computer, every single measurement matters. #CitizenScience #DarkSkies

What we see vs. what the telescopes see 👀 1️⃣2️⃣NSF Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope and its image of shell galaxy NGC 3923 from @cerrotololo 🤩 3️⃣4️⃣WIYN 0.9-meter Telescope and its image of open cluster M45, the Pleiades from @KittPeakNatObs 🤯

A BRAND-NEW mountaintop astronomy center is opening at @KittPeakNatObs on Dec 16! 🪐Advanced tickets are required for opening day! Get yours for FREE while they last 🔗 https://t.co/DCexyJDQt7 📷: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/D. Salman

Astronomers detected the longest-ever gamma-ray burst (GRB)! These rare explosions usually last ~minutes, but GRB 250702B lasted over 7 hours 💪 With data from @GeminiObs and @cerrotololo, scientists are working to determine the origin of this GRB 📸 NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Garlick

We have BIG news: AZ’s NEWEST science center is opening at NSF @KittPeakNatObs on Dec 16, 2025! 🎉 🎟️ Advanced tickets are required! Reserve yours for FREE TODAY: https://t.co/DCexyJDQt7 📷KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. Dai

And finally our #1 press release of 2025 : Rubin’s First Look! The FIRST publicly released video from @VRubinObs in June 2025. How many galaxies do you think are in this image? 10 MILLION 🤯 📹NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA

Why is space so blue? 💙 That brilliant blue you see in some space images usually comes from hot, young stars that emit intense blue & ultraviolet light. When this light hits nearby gas and dust, it gets scattered or reflected, making clouds of material glow in shades of blue.

Meet Sh2-239, a nebula whose dramatic glow comes from the stars being born within. This was obtained with the NSF Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at @KittPeakNatObs. Visit this telescope TODAY ➡️ https://t.co/3xJnVEanLH 📷NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector & H. Schweiker

Your runner-up science moment of the year ↓ Ranking #2: DESI Survey Is dark energy changing over time? 😱 By mapping nearly 15 million galaxies and quasars the DESI Survey has created the largest 3D map of our Universe ever! 📷 DESI Collab/DOE/KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Proctor

Comet Lemmon ((C/2025 A6) streaks across the night sky above @Geminiobs North on Maunakea in this stunning Image of the Week. Captured on 12 November 2025, the comet glows against the Milky Way, green airglow, and the lights of Hawai‘i Island. 📷GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

In our top press releases #3: Astronomers have discovered four sub-Earth exoplanets orbiting Barnard’s Star, the nearest single star system to Earth. The discovery was made using in part the @Geminiobs North telescope. 📷 GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld

IC 342 is known as “The Hidden Galaxy” because of its location behind dusty areas near the galactic equator, making it difficult to observe. To take an image like this one from @NSF @KittPeakNatObs, you’ll need a 🔭 and a dark sky. 📷NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector & H. Schweiker

Here’s a 2025 science moment you loved! Release #4 Say it 3 times: Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse Astronomers using @Geminiobs North found a hidden companion star orbiting inside Betelgeuse’s extended atmosphere, the first close-in companion ever seen around a supergiant star

What a YEAR! This year, we’ve had incredible scientific news! Ranking #5:New image of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS! ☄️ In this image taken from Gemini South, you can see the growing tail of the comet and the glowing coma. 📷GeminiObs/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Shadow the Scientist

It’s TIMEEEEE! ✨🎄 It’s December and we’re red-y for the holiday season! 😉 Interested in seeing more incredible deep-space pictures? Check out our free-to-use image collection at https://t.co/RJ3VDDmneL 📷Collage: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/N. Kuchta

Resembling a baseball hurtling through space, planetary nebula HFG1 produces a blue bowshock and red gas trail as it moves through the interstellar medium. 📷: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab) & H. Schweiker (NSF NOIRLab)