It is run by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), with a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on a 2,096 m (6,880 ft) peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oodham Nation, 88 kilometres (55 miles) southwest of Tucson. ... The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) is a complex of astronomical telescopes and instruments located approximately 80 km to the East of La Serena, Chile at an altitude of 2200 meters. ... The Gemini Observatory consists of a pair of 8-meter astronomical telescopes. ... The National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, United States, is located on the rim of the forested Sacramento mountains overlooking the White Sands National Monument and the Tularosa basin of New Mexico. ... The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is a consortium of universities and other institutions. ... The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent United States government agency responsible for supporting basic science research mainly by providing research funding. ...
The important additional criterion for the award of NOAO time is that both the HST and the ground-based data are required to meet the science goals of the project.
NOAO observing time will be implemented during the two semesters from August 2005 through July 2006.
NOAO will perform feasibility checks, and NOAO reserves the right to reject any approved observation determined to be infeasible, impossible to schedule, and/or dangerous to the telescopes or instruments.
The NOAO should endeavor to increase the time it can make available on 4-m class telescopes by seeking more partnership arrangements like the several efficient cost-sharing arrangements with university consortia that it has recently undertaken.
NSF-astronomy and NOAO should establish provisions for trading or purchasing telescope time from private and university groups operating 8-m and 10-m class telescopes and smaller special-purpose telescopes in order to ensure that the full range of observing facilities is available to the whole community.
NOAO cannot be the site for all of the necessary technological innovation, but it can play a vital role as a clearinghouse for such technology.
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