AURA Starts New Cooperative Agreement with NSF to Operate NOAO and NSO

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., has
entered into a new cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation
for AURA to continue to operate the National Optical Astronomy Observatory
(NOAO)
and the National Solar Observatory (NSO) through September 30, 2007.

The cooperative agreement provides $175 million for the management and
operations
of these national observatories over the next five years. The completion of
this agreement follows a May 2002 decision by the NSF’s governing body, the
National Science Board, to approve the foundation’s recommendation to
re-select AURA as
the managing organization for NOAO and NSO; this decision by the board was
the culmination of a year-long, open competition.

AURA established NOAO and NSO, and has operated them for more than 40 years.
NOAO consists of Kitt Peak National Observatory and the NOAO Gemini Science
Center, both based in Tucson, AZ, and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory,
La Serena, Chile. NSO operates a variety of solar telescope facilities on
Kitt Peak and on Sacramento Peak, NM.

“These premier public observatories have been central to the development of
astronomy in the United States, through their rich heritage of scientific
discovery and the invaluable observational experience they’ve provided for
generations of astronomers,” said AURA President William S. Smith. “The
renewal
of AURA’s stewardship of them represents a tremendous opportunity for our
members
and staff to lead the community toward a renewed vision for ground-based
astronomy
in the age of ever-larger space telescopes and radio telescopes.”

“The decision by the NSF and the National Science Board to work with AURA
is a strong affirmation that the association and its observatories can serve
as the effective national leadership organizations envisioned by the most
recent Decadal Survey of astronomy,” said John Huchra of the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the chair of the AURA Board of
Directors.

NOAO Director Jeremy Mould and NSO Director Steve Keil led the development
of long-range plans for the observatories.

“We look forward to getting on with the work of implementing the vision
presented
in the AURA proposal, including new generations of instruments for our
current telescopes, the proposed Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope, and the
Large Synoptic Survey Telescope,” Mould said. “Important new community-wide
initiatives such as
the Telescope System Instrumentation Program are in place, and we will
continue
to promote increased public education and outreach efforts.”

“We’re gratified that the NSO has been recognized for its efforts over
the past several years to help prepare the solar astronomy community for
the new era envisioned by the Decadal Survey,” Keil said. “We’re already
hard at work to transform the 4-meter Advanced Technology Solar Telescope
from a concept into a reality by early next decade.”

For more information, see www.noao.edu and www.nso.edu.

AURA is a consortium of 36 universities and non-profit institutions committed
to advancing the frontiers of astronomy. AURA manages world-class facilities
on behalf of the NSF and NASA that are open to all astronomers on a merit
basis.
In addition to NOAO and NSO, AURA manages the Space Telescope Science
Institute in Baltimore, MD, and the International Gemini Observatory, based
in Hilo, HI.