A consortium of US universities founded in 1957 to provide observing facilities for astronomers. AURA operates the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the National Solar Observatory, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Gemini Observatory, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Its headquarters are in Washington DC. It has 40 US member institutions plus international affiliates in Australia, Chile, and Japan.

http://www.aura-astronomy.org/ Official website.