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Our Astronomy Centers |
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GEMINI OBSERVATORY
- The Gemini Observatory is an international partnership to operate twin
8.1-meter telescopes, one on Hawaii's Mauna Kea and the other on Chile's Cerro Pachon.
The partners include the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Australia,
Brazil, and Argentina. AURA manages Gemini under the auspices of the International
Gemini Board and the U.S. National Science
Foundation as its executive agency.
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NATIONAL OPTICAL
ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY (NOAO) - NOAO operates telescopes for night-time
astronomy. These telescopes are located on Kitt Peak in Arizona and Cerro Tololo
in Chile, and are used by approximately one thousand professional astronomers and
students each year. In addition, NOAO provides support for the involvement of the
U.S. astronomical community in the Gemini Observatory. AURA operates NOAO for the
National Science Foundation under
cooperative agreement.
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NATIONAL SOLAR
OBSERVATORY (NSO) - The mission of the National Solar Observatory is to
advance our understanding of the Sun in its astrophysical context as a star, as
the driver of conditions in interplanetary space, in its influence on the
terrestrial atmosphere, and in its role in long-term climate change. NSO provides
observing facilities for use by the nation's solar and
solar-terrestrial physics community. NSO conducts research at Sacramento Peak in
New Mexico and at Kitt Peak in Arizona. Its current major initiatives include an
Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), the
Global Oscillation Network (GONG), the Synoptic Optical Long-Term Investigations of
the Sun (SOLIS), the Precision Solar Photometric Telescopes Program, and development
in adaptive optics technology. AURA operates NSO for the National Science Foundation under cooperative agreement.
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SPACE TELESCOPE
SCIENCE INSTITUTE (STScI) - STScI carries out the scientific mission of the
Hubble Space Telescope, the most powerful optical/ultraviolet observatory in space.
From Baltimore, Maryland, STScI serves astronomers everywhere who observe the universe
with Hubble. In addition, STScI is developing the Science and Operations
Center for the James Webb Space Telescope
(JWST). JWST will be Hubble's successor and is currently scheduled to launch in
2013.
AURA manages STScI under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
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AURA
OBSERVATORY (AURA-O) - AURA-O is the primary representative in Chile for
AURA and all units operating or wishing to operate on it's property. The
"Units" include National Optical Astronomy Observatories (Cerro Tololo
Inter-American Observatory), Gemini South, and Southern Observatory for
Astronomical Research and such other observatory operations functioning under
the auspices of AURA in Chile. (access
to this site is currently restricted)
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