NASA Infrared Telescope Facility

The Infrared Telescope Facility ( IRTF ) is a telescope for infrared astronomy at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. Its main mirror has a diameter of 3.0 m.

The telescope was built in 1979 to support the Voyager missions ( Voyager 1 and Voyager 2) and is now on behalf of NASA operated by the University of Hawaii. Since the IRTF is funded by NASA, at least 50 % of the observing time on the IRTF is awarded for the exploration of the solar system; this is unusual for a telescope of this size.