Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. Executive Committee.

Founded in 1957, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) is a consortium of universities and participants from non-member university departments of astronomy representing the interests of all astronomers. It established and operates the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (Kitt Peak National Observatory, near Tucson, Ariz., Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, LaSerene, Chile, and the National Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak and Kitt Peak), and operates Sacramento Peak Observatory at Sunspot, N.M. (all under contract with the National Science Foundation). It also operates the Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. AURA conducts stellar, solar, and planetary science research and publishes monographs.