AURA Astronomy

Photonect Interconnect Solutions Inc. Co-Founder Marinus Consulting LLC, Owner Jim Oschmann, past president of SPIE, the International Society of Optics and Photonics, is a retired executive from Ball Aerospace. Prior to joining Ball Aerospace in 2004, Oschmann served in varied positions in the science, commercial and aerospace industries. Jim worked for AURA as the Gemini […] The post Jacobus (J…

STIC Chair SRON Space Research Organisation Netherlands Michael Wise is the General and Scientific Director of SRON, Space Research Organisation Netherlands, and Professor of High Energy Astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1992. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Kitt Peak National Observatory, he joined the […] The post Michael Wi…

he wait is over: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, is now capturing the cosmos in unprecedented detail, transforming the way we study the dynamic Universe. The post Action! NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Begins Capturing the Greatest Cosmic Movie Ever Made appeared first on AURA Astronomy .

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found something they never expected — ultraviolet light from a galaxy that existed just 1.4 billion years after the big bang. That galaxy contains tightly clustered young stars that produce ionizing light capable of transforming the opaque, neutral gas within and immediately around the galaxy, clearing our view. The post Hubble Details Early Ga…

As interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS began moving away from the Sun in December 2025, astronomers took the opportunity to turn NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope in its direction and capture detailed measurements of its chemical components. The comet was freshly warmed from its closest pass by the Sun, and its ancient ice had been converted to a bright coma of gas ideal for observation. The pos…

A team of astronomers has identified a remarkably bright, gravitationally-lensed, star-forming galaxy as the likely source of the high-energy neutrino event IC 210922A, detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in 2021. The galaxy, nicknamed “Shadow Blaster,” is located about 11 billion light-years away, providing the most concrete observational evidence yet that populations of distant star-fo…

Solar flares are a well-recognized component of space weather, yet operational flare forecasting often fails when the source region of the flares lies near or just beyond the Sun’s visible “edges”, or solar limbs. Two major advances over the past decade have now been combined to demonstrate an approach for predicting these “limb flares,” which can still significantly disrupt communication systems…

As President of AURA, I have been privileged to be part of a truly transformational period in astronomy. Together with all of AURA’s Centers, we have embarked on groundbreaking projects that are expanding our understanding of the Universe and, closer to home, revealing how the Sun’s magnetic fields channel energy into flares and heat the corona. The post Letter from AURA President Matt Mountain a…

AURA, headquartered in Washington D.C., manages world-class astronomical Centers for both the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Our Centers enable the next decade of astronomical discoveries through world-class facilities and science. The post About AURA appeared first on AURA Astronomy .

NSF NOIRLab is the preeminent U.S. national center for ground-based, nighttime optical and infrared astronomy. NOIRLab enables breakthrough discoveries in astrophysics by developing and operating state-of-the-art observatories and providing data products and services for the astronomical community. The post NSF NOIRLab appeared first on AURA Astronomy .

Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is a multi-mission operations center for NASA’s flagship observatories and a world-class astronomical research center. Operated by AURA for NASA, STScI has helped guide the most famous observatory in history, the Hubble Space Telescope. The post Space Telescope Science Institute appeared first on AURA Astronomy .

The NSF National Solar Observatory (NSO) operates the world’s most extensive collection of ground-based optical and infrared solar telescopes and auxiliary instrumentation, allowing solar physicists to probe all aspects of the Sun. The post NSF National Solar Observatory appeared first on AURA Astronomy .

NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, currently under construction by AURA on Cerro Pachón in Chile, is an 8-meter-class telescope coupled to a 3200 megapixels camera – the world’s largest digital camera ever fabricated for optical astronomy. Rubin Observatory will bring the sky to life and revolutionize the way we explore the cosmos. The post NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Construction appeared …

Now, researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have detected clear evidence that some supermassive black holes were enormous from the beginning, forming without a stellar collapse phase, and without a significantly more massive host galaxy to feed them. The post NASA’s Webb Reveals Black Hole That Formed Before Its Galaxy appeared first on AURA Astronomy .

AURA’s mission includes promoting public understanding of our universe and the benefits of scientific exploration. Our talented education and public outreach teams at each of the AURA managed Centers and projects lead this work. The post Education and Outreach appeared first on AURA Astronomy .

May 27 AURA Stats and Locations

In late April astronomers from across the U.S. and Chile gathered in Tucson, Arizona for the 2026 AURA Annual Meeting. Held each Spring, the meeting brings together representatives from AURA’s 51 member institutions to elect governance positions, discuss astronomy topics, attend open houses, network with colleagues, interact with AURA leadership, and share science results. The post 2026 AURA Annu…

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has elected Dr. Jennifer Lotz, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, and 448 other AAAS members as Fellows of the AAAS. Election as an AAAS Fellow is a lifetime honor bestowed upon select AAAS members by their peers for their efforts to advance science or its applications. The post STScI Dir…

Scientists at NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, have submitted an unprecedented set of asteroid detections to the IAU Minor Planet Center, including hundreds of distant worlds beyond Neptune and 33 previously unknown near-Earth asteroids. The post Early Data from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Ob…