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Southern Arizona will remain one of the world's astronomy centers, but a new report gives mixed signals about the future size and shape of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory's operations in Tucson and at Kitt Peak.

The long-awaited Astronomy Senior Review Committee report on federal funding strategy, released Friday, recommends closing all but one of the National Solar Observatory's facilities on Kitt Peak and all operations at its Sacramento Peak site in New Mexico.

But the directors of NOAO, Kitt Peak National Observatory and the National Solar Observatory said there is nothing in the report to suggest that any jobs would be lost in the immediate future.

Mark Giampapa, deputy director of the National Solar Observatory, said the recommendations about closing the solar telescopes were not unexpected.

The solar observatory was already planning to close those telescopes or turn them over to other parties when the planned Advanced Technology Solar Telescope comes on line in several years. He said the new telescope will encompass the functions of the National Solar Observatory's telescopes at Kitt Peak and Sacramento Peak, N.M.

But as with most recent major telescope projects, the new solar telescope won't be built in Southern Arizona.

One new solar instrument already on Kitt Peak, the Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun, or SOLIS, will eventually be moved to a site outside Arizona.

Giampapa said he was surprised by the committee's recommendation that the National Solar Observatory stop operating the Global Oscillation Network Group. GONG, as it is better known, is made up of six instruments sited around the world to take nearly continuous readings of the sun's oscillations. Giampapa said about $3 million of Solar Observatory's annual $10 million budget goes to operate it.

Only two of of the network's instruments are based in the United States, in Big Bear, Calif., and in Hawaii, and the committee recommended finding other, possibly foreign, funding to support it.

The Advanced Technology Solar Telescope, along with GONG and SOLIS, "will allow us to study the sun from the inside out," said Giampapa.

Giampapa, NOAO Director Jeremy Mould and Kitt Peak National Observatory Acting Director Buell Jannuzi said that the committee's recommendations are not final.

A nationwide series of public meetings on the committee's report, set to start in January and wind up in late spring, could alter the National Science Foundation's final recommendations.

"Nothing is written in stone. Depending on the response in the (astronomy) community, it could change. Overall, we find the report reaffirming," said Giampapa.

He said he was optimistic about opening up the National Solar Observatory to public comment.

"Of all the astronomical objects we study, the sun is the most relevant to our lives," said Giampapa.

The first of these public meetings is set for Seattle in January; the other meeting locations have not been announced. Tucson was not selected as one of the sites for public meetings while the committee was preparing its report.

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory employs 265 people in between Tucson and Kitt Peak, 32 of whom are astronomers. There are about 40 engineers employed between the two.

NOAO has an annual budget of roughly $24 million, of which about $3 million goes to operate Kitt Peak and another $3 million to the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, said Douglas Isbell, NOAO's associate director for public affairs and educational outreach.

Isbell said the organization's budget has been essentially the same "for nearly two decades."

Kitt Peak is home to 26 telescopes, but only a handful are owned and operated by Kitt Peak National Observatory. There are several operated by collaborations of universities and other organizations.

The National Solar Observatory, which shares some facilities with NOAO, is a separate entity. All are federally funded through the National Science Foundation.

Giampapa said the National Solar Observatory employs roughly 90 people between its Tucson, Kitt Peak and Sacramento Peak sites.

The committee's members were working under the assumption that there would be no increase in National Science Foundation funding for astronomy in coming years, that astronomy grant money was not to be reduced and that future projects already in the pipeline were not to be raided to fund existing programs.

Few, if any, major new telescopes are likely to be located here and some jobs may eventually be lost, but directors of the observatories said job losses are not imminent.

The Senior Review Committee was told to find $30 million — roughly 15 percent of the National Science Foundation's total annual astronomy budget — to use for the new programs, according to the group's executive summary.

The committee also recommended a halt to funding for the famous Arecibo radio astronomy observatory in Puerto Rico. The huge dish was opened in 1963.