AURA Management and Operation of the National Solar Observatory

根据本合作协议的条款，天文学研究大学协会（AURA），Inc。美国国家科学基金会将代表国家科学基金会和国家太阳和空间物理研究界管理和运营国家太阳观测站及其相关设施。 国家天文台的使命是增进人类对太阳的认识，无论是作为一个天文物体，还是作为对地球的主要外部影响。国家天文台拥有世界上最大的地面光学和红外太阳望远镜及相关仪器，使太阳物理学家能够探测太阳的各个方面，从太阳内部深处到光球层和色球层，再到外层日冕及其与行星际介质的界面。 这些资产还为空间气象研究人员提供数据，帮助他们了解太阳爆发及其对地球的影响，并将这些知识应用于保护卫星、宇航员、陆基电力系统和地球气候。该观测站的使命包括运行尖端设施、继续开发先进仪器、进行太阳研究以及向公众宣传。 国家统计局在日震学、太阳变化的天气观测以及在可见光和红外波长对太阳的高分辨率研究方面发挥科学和技术领导作用。 国家统计局领导了一项积极的教育计划，面向参观其设施的公众，对太阳物理学感兴趣的本科生，进行太阳论文研究的研究生以及需要使用其设施的博士后研究人员。 随着丹尼尔K. Inouye太阳望远镜（DKIST），AURA和NSO将引领美国目前的地面太阳能能力进入一个新时代。 当它投入运行时，DKIST设施将成为世界上最大和最强大的太阳观测站，提供前所未有的灵敏度和分辨率，使太阳科学家能够回答该领域的一些基本问题，即：为什么太阳有磁场？ 太阳是如何产生各种活动的周期的？ 太阳黑子的成因是什么？ 太阳是如何产生剧烈爆炸的？ 虽然DKIST设施将提供高分辨率的手段来研究太阳的最小细节，国家统计局？的天气计划提供了长期的，全磁盘的，必要的监测能力，将DKIST观测的背景下，允许在太阳和空间物理学的变革性研究。

Under terms of this Cooperative Agreement, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. will manage and operate the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and its associated facilities on behalf of the National Science Foundation and the national solar and space physics research communities. The mission of the NSO is to advance human knowledge of the Sun, both as an astronomical object and as the dominant external influence on the Earth. The NSO operates the world's largest collection of ground-based optical and infrared solar telescopes and associated instrumentation allowing solar physicists to probe all aspects of the Sun, from the deep solar interior, to the photosphere and chromosphere, to the outer corona and its interface with the interplanetary medium. These same assets also provide data to space weather researchers in their efforts to understand solar eruptions and their effect upon the Earth, and to apply that knowledge to the protection of satellites, astronauts, land-based power systems, and Earth's climate. The mission of the observatory includes the operation of cutting-edge facilities, the continued development of advanced instrumentation, the conduct of solar research, and outreach to the general public. The NSO provides scientific and technical leadership in helioseismology, synoptic observations of solar variability, and high-resolution studies of the Sun at visible and infrared wavelengths. The NSO leads a vigorous program in education for public visitors to its facilities, undergraduates interested in solar physics, graduate students conducting dissertation research on the Sun, and postdoctoral researchers needing access to its facilities. With the construction of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), AURA and the NSO will lead a transformation of current U.S. ground-based solar capabilities into a new era. When it becomes operational, the DKIST facility will be the largest and most powerful solar observatory in the world providing the unprecedented sensitivity and resolution to allow solar scientists to answer some of the fundamental questions in the field, namely: Why does the Sun have a magnetic field? How does the Sun produce cycles of varying activity? What causes sunspots? How does the Sun produce violent explosions? While the DKIST facility will provide the high-resolution means to study the smallest details of the Sun, the NSO?s synoptic program provides the long-term, full-disk, monitoring capability necessary to place DKIST observations in context to allow transformative research in solar and space physics.