A large telescope built on top of a mountain

National Solar Observatory (NSO)

Important information about NSF’s implementation of the revised 2 CFR

NSF Financial Assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements) made on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the applicable set of award conditions, dated October 1, 2024, available on the NSF website. These terms and conditions are consistent with the revised guidance specified in the OMB Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024.

Important information for proposers

All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in this funding opportunity and in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. It is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets these requirements. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Synopsis

NSF's National Solar Observatory (NSO) makes available to qualified scientists the world's largest collection of optical and infrared solar telescopes and auxiliary instrumentation for observation of the solar photosphere, chromosphere, and corona.  The mission of the NSO is to advance knowledge of the Sun, both as an astronomical object and as the dominant external influence on Earth, by providing forefront observational opportunities to the research community.  NSO operates observational facilities, develops advanced instrumentation both in-house and through partnerships, conducts solar research, and carries out educational and public outreach.  

As NSF's Federally Funded Research and Development Center for solar physics, NSO is headquartered on the campus of the University of Colorado, Boulder and provides leadership to the solar community through management of the construction of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). When completed, DKIST will be the world’s most powerful solar observatory. Life on Earth is critically dependent upon the Sun. Solar phenomena such as space weather (e.g. geomagnetic storms) can significantly impact our increasingly technological society. DKIST will investigate the structure and evolution of magnetic structures on the Sun on spatial scales of tens of kilometers, the fundamental length scales of the processes that drive space weather. With DKIST poised to answer fundamental questions in solar physics by providing transformative improvements over current ground-based facilities, solar research enabled by DKIST will benefit all of humankind. NSO also operates a coordinated worldwide network of six telescopes known as the Global Oscillations Network Group (GONG).  GONG was specifically designed to study solar oscillations, however, it has become a critical component to U.S. efforts to study, characterize and predict space weather.  NSO routinely provides detailed synoptic solar data used by individual researchers and other government agencies.  

NSO is managed for NSF by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA).

Program contacts

Carrie E. Black
cblack@nsf.gov (703) 292-2426 MPS/AST

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