Lowell Observatory comparing these measurements with a reference set of Sun-like stars. Lowell Observatory is building a major new reflecting telescope in partnership with Discovery Communications, located near Happy Jack, Arizona. This Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT), located within the Mogollon Rim Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest, is expected to be the fifth-largest telescope in the contiguous United States, and it will enable the astronomers of Lowell Observatory to enter new research areas deeper into outer space. The DCT and the research carried out there will be the focus of ongoing informative and educational television programs about astronomy, the sciences, and
National Optical Astronomy Observatory shape the System and gain steady, state-of-the-art research capabilities of all apertures for open, merit based science. A future major capability for the US system is an Extremely Large Telescope with diameter up to 30 meters. Two private consortia are currently working on such projects which may be operational before the end of the decade. These are the Thirty Meter Telescope and Giant Magellan Telescope. NOAO is working with both projects in planning for potential future involvement of the broad US community through operational support funding by the NSF. National Optical Astronomy Observatory The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) is