Resources for Research

in Astronomy: a Sampling

Shapiro Science Library

2000
 Resources to be Discussed

 NASA Astrophysical Data System:

 http://adsabs.harvard.edu/

 AstroWeb:
 http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/www/

 Digitized Sky Survey:

 http://stdata.stsci.edu/dss/

 Online bibliographic resources

 Inspec, ARIBIB
 The NASA Astrophysics Data System
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/
 Abstracts
 Articles
 Library
 Catalogs
 Archives
 Background of Astrophysics Data System

1980’s System developed to connect databases for

NASA space missions
1993 Abstracts from NASA’s Scientific &
Technical Information Office added
1994 Web developed--abstract service moved to
web environment--usage triples within one
month
post- Web allows more linking to more
1994 databases, e.g. SIMBAD, NED
 Searching the ADS Abstracts

 Select a database
 Astronomy and
Astrophysics abstracts
 Instrumentation
 Physics and
Geophysics
 ADS/LANL Preprints
 Creating the Query

 Title
 Author
 Object
 Keyword
Information provided about links

 O--Original author
abstract
 E--Online e-journal at
site of publisher
 F--Full article
available from ADS
 S--linked to SIMBAD
 N--linked to NED
 SIMBAD
http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/Simbad

 Set of Identifications, Measurements, and

Bibliography for Astronomical Data
 Object name to get coordinates
 Name resolver from integrated index of
observatory archives
 > 1.4 x 106 fixed objects e.g. stars, nebulae;
excludes solar system bodies
 >2200 astronomical catalogs cross-indexed
 Bibliographic information for stars from 1950;
extragalactic objects from 1983
 NED
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/

 NASA Extragalactic Database

 Database server located in Pasadena CA
 Fixed objects, e.g. galaxies, quasars
 Enter object name to find coordinates
 Linked to NASA ADS Abstract Service
 Links from Abstracts to other databases

 Online full-text journals

 SIMBAD and NED object data
 General Catalogue of Photometric Data, University of
Lausanne Switzerland
 Astronomy Digital Image Library (ADIL) at National
Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)
 Star*Family; database maintained by A. Heck in
Strasbourg of information about astronomers, and centers
of astronomy
 Astronomers’ homepages
 International Astronomical Union Circulars
 International Astronomical Union Circulars
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/RecentIAUCs.html

 available online from

1966 (circ. 2001) to
present--free
 Indexed in INSPEC
and AAA
 Articles database
ADS full-text online journals

 Astronomical Journal
 Astronomy & Astrophysics
 Astronomy & Astrophysics
Letters
 Astrophysical Journal
 Astrophysical Journal Letters
 Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society
 11 other titles plus selected
proceedings
 Creating ADS online full-text journals

 scanned to create full-text

 6 months to 2 years behind current issue
depending on agreement with publisher
 goal is to have all issues online, historical as
well as current literature
 texts available in PDF, HTML or postscript
 Article Database

 online journals
scanned by ADS
 online proceedings
(few)
 table of contents
service
 Catalogs database

 175 astronomical
catalogs available
 links to other catalog
sources
 cgi-bin search
 Cataloging of the Astrophysical Data System

 OCLC record
 Summary: Astrophysical Data System

 Bibliographic database for astronomical

research
 Integrated with object, person, full-text
online journal databases
 Funded by NASA--free to all users,
worldwide
AstroWeb

 CDS (André Heck, Daniel

Egret)
 MSSSO (Anton Koekemoor)
 NRAO (Don Wells)
 WWW-VL (La Plata, Sergio
Paoli)
 ST-ECF (Hans-Martin Adorf,
Fionn Murtagh)
 STScI (Bob Jackson)
 VILSPA (Jose Daniel Ponz)
AstroWeb

 example: select “radio

astronomy”
 links to:
 Observatories

 Research institutes

 Research groups

 Software packages

 Data archives
 Summary: AstroWeb

 Provides links to an international collection

of data sources
 Targeted to researchers in astronomy
 Filtered selection of links
 Digitized Sky Survey
http://stdata.stsci.edu/dss

 1950/55 Palomar Observatory Sky Survey

 red plates for the Northern sky
 SERC Southern Sky Survey and the SERC J
 Equatorial Extension and some short V-band
plates at low galactic latitude
 Name resolver is available to find the coordinates
of the object of interest
 Also available on CD-ROM (102 discs)
DSS: Search for Specific Objects
DSS: Retrieve Images
 Digitized Sky Survey: Summary

 Excellent quick searches

 Free to all
 If large, time consuming searches need to be
performed, better to use the 102 CD-ROM’s
of the survey
 Bibliographic Citations and Abstracts: Online

 INSPEC 1969-present
 Astronomy & Astrophysics Abstracts included
1988-present
 ARIBIB 1983-present
 http://www.ari.uni-
heidelberg.de/aribib/Astronomy & Astrophysics
Abstracts on the web (abstracts not included)
 Print Indexes of Bibliographic Citations to
Pre-1983 Literature

 Astronomy & Astrophysics Abstracts

 1969-present

 Referativnyi Zhurnal: Astronomiia

 Science library has 1963-1996
 Astronomischer Jahresbericht
 1899-1968
 Conclusions

 Astronomical research secondary resources

are becoming integrated with primary
resources at a rapid pace
 reliance on the internet for communication
and storage of astronomical data is the norm
 a “library without walls” is being created by
astronomy researchers