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 enhanced image of the Moon was taken with the NOAO Mosaic CCD camera using two of the National Science Foundation's telescopes located at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, AZ. It is one of many images available in our Image Gallery.
NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.