NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, Infrared observatory at Mauna Kea, US

The NASA Infrared Telescope Facility is an infrared observatory on Mauna Kea with a 3-meter telescope designed to observe celestial bodies. The instrument captures heat radiation from distant objects that remain invisible to conventional optical telescopes.

Built to support the Voyager missions, the IRTF was first conceived as a 3-meter infrared telescope for NASA and has been operated since its inception by the University of Hawaii under a cooperative agreement with the agency. It now serves as the US national facility for infrared astronomy, with at least half of its observing time reserved for planetary science.

The IRTF is operated by the University of Hawaii under a cooperative agreement with NASA, and its time allocation rules reserve at least 50% of observing time for planetary science. Its three facility instruments are SpeX/MORIS, iSHELL and MIRSI/MOC, with SpeX the most requested instrument and iSHELL the second most used as of 2019.

Observation time is shared among research facilities, with roughly half reserved for planetary studies. Visitors should know the site sits at high altitude and access may be restricted.

The telescope can detect heat signatures from objects millions of light-years away, revealing hidden information about cosmic structures. This ability helps researchers study phenomena linked to thermal radiation.