As it gears up to build a jumbo solar telescope, the US National Solar Observatory is reclaiming independence from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory.
Along with other mostly 20-year-old observatories, NSO was folded into the newly formed NOAO in the mid-1980s. The idea was to share resources and foster synergies among scientists from the daytime and nighttime astronomy communities. The experiment did not work out as well it could have, says John Huchra, who chairs the board of directors of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, the organization that manages both observatories for NSF. “The nighttime and solar astronomers don’t have goals that are quite enough in common.” (AURA’s longstanding contract was renewed in May, after being opened to competition for the first time.) NSO’s share of the total NOAO budget hovered around 25–30% and, says NSO Director Stephen Keil, “the solar physics community felt that independence would...
