NOAO Employee Directory
Research ServicesArizona, United States51-200 Employees
NOAO is the US national research and development center for ground-based night-time astronomy, based in Tucson, Arizona. It provides access to cutting-edge observational capabilities for qualified professional researchers through a peer-reviewed process on telescopes operated by NOAO and other facilities in the OIR System. Its telescope program covers apertures from 1 meter to 10 meters, and it participates in the development of larger facilities, including 20-meter-class telescopes and an 8-meter telescope intended to produce a 10-year movie of the Southern sky. To support its mission, NOAO pursues programs to develop next-generation telescopes, instruments, and software tools to enable exploration from exoplanets to the most distant galaxies. It also runs an Education and Public Outreach program aimed at inspiring young people to pursue science and technology and at engaging groups historically underrepresented in physics and astronomy; in May 2020 the organization launched a series of short videos as a recent development.