astronomy

Landolt Space Mission

Telescope Details Website Location 35,786 kilometers (22,236 miles) above the United States in a geostationary orbit Purpose This mission...

How Bright Are the Stars?

It may seem like a trivial question, but to astronomers, it’s anything but. A method to more accurately measure star brightness, or...

How Was the Universe Born?

None of us were around to witness the violent birth and explosive early growth of the universe some 13.8 billion years ago — and that’s a...

What Time Is It on the Moon?

August 12, 2024

New lunar time proposal is a first step for Moon GPS.

The Big Quantum Chill: NIST Scientists Modify Common Lab Refrigerator to Cool Faster With Less Energy

April 23, 2024

By modifying a refrigerator commonly used in both research and industry, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have

NIST Physicist’s Once Obscure Work Is Now Helping Researchers Learn About the Origins of the Universe

May 1, 2024

A NIST researcher worked in obscurity for years — until his work was needed to help us understand the origins of our universe.

Microwave Detectors and Multiplexing: NIST Researchers Help Astronomers Examine the Early Universe

January 24, 2024

Perched atop a high plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert, a long-awaited observatory is beginning to take shape: the largest suite of ground-based telescopes

Illustrated celestial body shines on a flat box-shaped device with a protruding center.

NIST Team Develops Highest-Resolution Single-Photon Superconducting Camera

October 25, 2023

Researchers at NIST and their colleagues have built a superconducting camera containing 400,000 pixels — 400 times more than any other device of its type.

Isabelle Rivera poses smiling at a computer with two monitors, one showing a spreadsheet and the other multiple file icons.

Reaching for the Stars: My Summer Internship Learning About Spectroscopy in Space and on Earth

October 4, 2023

As a summer high school intern at NIST, I got to take a deep dive into one of the ways scientists study space — the absorption and emission of light by matter

Two people wearing coveralls in a "clean room" lab look up at a disk-shaped object that one of them is holding.

Agents of Contrast, Software Runaway Hit, Our Early Universe: A Sample of Stories on NIST Social Media

September 6, 2023

Curious? It’s time to get you caught up on a few of the summer happenings at NIST.

Six men stand in front of an airplane in a hangar, with equipment displayed on carts in front of them.

From Waxlight to Moonlight: 21st Century Standard Candles at NIST

July 6, 2022

Before I tell you about the high-altitude NASA aircraft we use and the lunar observatory we are building, let’s talk about the earliest standard for measuring

Square checkerboard with 32 squares on each side surrounded by sunbeam-like lines emanating out from around the board.

NIST’s Light-Sensing Camera May Help Detect Extraterrestrial Life, Dark Matter

November 19, 2019

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have made one of the highest-performance cameras ever composed of sensors that count

Top NIST Images of 2018

February 6, 2019

There’s nothing quite like a captivating image to make you want to learn more. And nowhere is that more apparent than when it comes to sometimes hard-to

Laboratory with computer screens mounted on the wall, and a table with instruments

NIST Team Shows Tiny Frequency Combs Are Reliable Measurement Tools

April 25, 2018

In an advance that could shrink many measurement technologies, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and partners have

NIST Gives Astronomers a Better Ruler in the Search for Extrasolar Planets

March 26, 2014

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have rejuvenated a technique for finding planets near distant stars.* New measurements

Magnetic Attraction: Physicists Pay Homage to the SQUID at 50

March 11, 2014

From humble beginnings in a series of accidental discoveries, SQUIDs have invaded and enhanced many areas of science and medicine, thanks, in part, to the

Observed Interstellar Molecular Microwave Transitions - Version History

Example of how to reference this online database: (Replace year, month day with database access date.) F.J. Lovas, J.E. Bass, R.A...

Observed Interstellar Molecular Microwave Transitions

NIST Standard Reference Database 116 Last Update to Data Content: September 2009 | Version History | Disclaimer | DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10...