ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 1074 / C & R L N e w s ■ D e c e m b e r 2001 I N T E R N E T R E S O U R C E S Astronom y reso u rces on the Web Sites for the amateur and professional astronomer by Jane Duffy A stronomy is an earth science that deals with materials and their properties be yond the Earth’s atmosphere. This interesting paradox is reflected in the discipline’s inter weaving o f both professional and amateur observations in its research programs. As tronomers have been among the first to de ploy the Internet’s vast capabilities to facili tate the exchange o f information both within their discipline and with those related to it, particularly astrophysics, space science, as tronautics, and space exploration. The guide below is a selection o f the wide range o f freely accessible Internet materials created by and for astronomers. M e ta site s • Astronomy Net Astroguide. This guide provides access, through its browsable table of contents, to information about astronomy research, nonprofit organizations, practitioners, software, observatories, equipment, and uni versity research projects. Some evaluation is indicated through a link popularity “star sys tem.” A dedicated multilevel search engine is found on this p age. Access: http:// www.astronomy.net/astroguide/. • AstroW eb: A stronom y and Astro physics on the Internet. Maintained by the AstroWeb consortium, this page offers sub ject organized links to information within such categories as “Observing Resources,” “Data Resources,” and “Research Areas o f A s tronomy.” The 3,009 resources provided on this page include the following; history o f astronomy, online bibliographies o f as tronomy materials, lists o f international as tronomy departments, newsgroups, educa tional resources, and astronomy libraries. In addition to subject classification, the site also provides a WAIS search engine. Access: h t t p :/ / w w w .c v .n r a o .e d u / fit s / w w w / astronomy.html. • High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center. D eveloped at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, this in dex is rich in astronomy resources for gen eral audiences. Image and information links are provided for such broad topics as solar eclipse, Mars, comets and meteors, space exploration, and more. This site also provides access to astronomy magazines, hypermedia textbooks, Ask-A-High-Energy Astronomer service, image and video archives, software references, and other metasites. Access: http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/www_info/ webstars.html. A b o u t th e a u t h o r Jane Duffy is physics/astronomy librarian in the Science and Engineering Library at Ohio State University Libraries, e-mail: duffy. 88@osu. edu http://www.astronomy.net/astroguide/ http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/www/ http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/www_info/ C& RL N ew s ■ D e c e m b e r 2001 / 1075 E d u c a tio n a l re source s • Astronomy Picture o f the Day. An outreach service provided through the NASA Web site, this page is maintained by Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell. Containing the largest collection o f annotated astronomical images on the Internet, APOD daily offers a different space-related image or photograph with explanatory captions. Also found on this site is an image archive, index, dedicated search engine, calendar, glossary, and related astronomy education links. Access: http:// antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html. • Education Index: Astronom y Re sources. The Education Index is searchable alphabetically by subject and subdivided by educational level. The resources for astronomy are well annotated with direct links to each resource. Subjects range from telescope mak ing sites to a highly interactive tour o f the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Access: http://www.educationindex.com/ astro/. • Educational Observatory Institute- A stro n o m ical Resources. A w ork in progress, the Educational Observatory Insti tute, created and maintained by Samuel Wormley of Iowa State University, offers edu cational materials appropriate for K-12 and college-level s t u d e n t s . Links are pro vided to sky charts, cata logs, atlases, sky maps, map indexes, and satellite information as well as to online books, reviews, and bibliographies. Access: http:// w ww.ende.iastate.edu/staff/swormley/ eo/ eo.html. • NASA Historical Archive for Manned Missions. This historical archive offers the reader links to rocket history, the history of astronautics, a chronology of aeronautics and astronautics, and a history of Apollo Launch facilities and operations. Information on manned missions includes Projects Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, the Apollo Soyuz Test Project, and the Space Shuttle. The site pro vides full-text access to key documents in the history of space policy, including the NASA Space Act of 1958. Access: http://www.ksc. nasa.gov/history/history.html. • Royal Observatory Greenwich. Spon sored by the National Maritime Museum, this site is rich in education information, including downloadable leaflets, night sky links, online exhibits, and special programs for K-12. Inter national topics fully developed on this site in clude Tychos’ Star Maps, Harrison and the Story of Longitude, and Maritime Greenwich. Access: http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/. S p e c ia liz e d a stro n o m y Web d a ta b a se s • Center for Earth and Planetary Stud ies. The Center for Earth and Planetary Stud ies is part of the Collections and Research Department of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. In addition to original CEPS research materials for Mars, Venus, Mercury, Earth and its Moon, outreach materials and an extensive image collection are also stored on this site. To enable known item searching o f its planetary science, geophysics, and environmental information, a dedicated search engine is also available on this site. Access: http://www.nasm.edu/ceps/. • Chronology o f Lunar and Planetary Exploration. Maintained within the NASA Web site, this page offers a timeline of space exploration from its beginnings with Sputnik 1 in 1957. While chronologically constructed, browsing ahead to specific years through the table o f contents is also possible. For each historical entry, links are provided to images, descriptions, launch/orbital data, sponsoring agencies or countries, personnel information, and related resources. Access: http://nssdc. gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chrono.html. • Planetary Data System. This site is an index of information from NASA planetary missions, organized by user level. Informa tion for scientists include data and other PDS documentation; public information offers links to NASA planetary missions as well as to an extensive image library; data producers are given links to archiving software and infor mation; and educators are linked to a grow ing number of multimedia instructional re sources. Access: http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/. L a b o ra to rie s an d p re p rin t sites • Los Alamos National Laboratory Pre print Server. An innovator in scholarly com munication, the LANL arXiv makes available e-prints in the area o f astrophysics from 1992 to the present. Visitors to the site may browse by year or search by title/author indexes. http://www.educationindex.com/ http://www.ende.iastate.edu/staff/swormley/ http://www.ksc http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/ http://www.nasm.edu/ceps/ http://nssdc http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/ 1076 / C& RL N e w s ■ D e c e m b e r 2001 Expert search strategies, including subject and Boolean searching, are offered for the easy negotiation o f the arXiv search interface. Ac cessible from the title page as well are chro nologically organized information segments classified as “new,” “recent,” “lastupdate,” and “current.” Access: http://xxx.lanl.gov/. • Space Telescope Science Institute STEPsheet service. Created and maintained by the Space Telescope Science Institute Li brary, this preprint server offers access to both refereed and unrefereed papers from 1980 to the present from the Hubble Space Telescope and other astronomy institutes. The interface allows searching by author, title, institution, publication year and status, as well as by HST proposal number. Access: http://NTweb.stsci. edu/STEPsheet/. Research and publication inform atio n • Astrophysics Data System. Funded by NASA, the Astrophysics Data System database houses more than 3 million abstracts from journal articles, conference proceedings, doc toral dissertations, and technical reports in the following subject areas: astronomical and solar physics, instrumentation and engineer ing, and geophysics. Also included are pre prints from Los Alamos National Laboratory. This database is searchable by author and title/abstract keywords. ADS scanned articles are accessible through their own browse sys tem. Access: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/pasa/. • Bulletin o f the American Astronomi cal Society. With available documents ar ranged chronologically from 1997 to the present, this site is an archive o f AAS meet ing programs and annual reports o f Astro nomical Observatories and Departments. Also o f academic interest are reports and articles on graduate study in astronomy, citation analysis in the field o f astronomy, and other research and education themes. Access: http://www.aas.org/publications/baas/ baasindex.html. • Inform ation Bulletin on Variable Stars. This database o f information on vari able stars (those that change in brightness) provides access to scanned paper copies o f bulletins from the first issue in 1961 to 1994. More recent issues are computer typeset. All information housed here is searchable by IBVS issue number. Access: http://www. konkoly.hu/IBVS/issues.html. • Revised Catalog o f MK Spectra Types for the Cooler Stars. Compiled by Philip Keenan and Gerald Newsom o f the Ohio State University Department o f Astronomy, this online research tool, classified through the Revised MK system, replaces the print ver sion o f the Perkins catalog o f standard cooler, i.e., redder or darker, stars later than Spectral type GO. O f interest primarily to the profes sional astronomer, the catalog and its notes are downloadable from this site in both ASCII and HTML format. Access. http://www. astronomy.ohio-state.edu/MKCool/. P r o fe ss io n a l so c ie tie s • American Association o f Variable Star Observers. Sponsored by a society com mitted to serve both amateur and professional astronomers since 1911, this Web page offers data request services, alert notices, and “news flashes” about variable stars. Also featured is direct access to observing aids, software, and AAVSO meeting information. In addition to the provision o f links to its electronic publi cations and e-mail discussion forums, this site provides the searcher with online access to its publications and e-mail discussions. A c cess: http://www.aavso.org/. • American Astronomical Society. This site offers access to the American Astronomi cal Society directory as well as other gover nance documents, meetings announcements and notes, policy statements, projects, and direct links to their journal homepages. Full- text information o f selected reports, especially on education issues, may also be found here. Access: http://www.aas.org. • H ubble Space Telescope. Housed within the NASA Web site, this page offers links to information about the Hubble Space Telescope, including pictures, news releases, and relevant educational materials. The table o f contents functions as browsable links to the HST schedule and programming informa tion, pictures by subject, online exhibits, star catalogs, and a data archive. The page also functions as a communications channel for researchers through the provision o f fellow ship and student programs, proposals, and application information. Access: http://www. stsci.edu/top.html. • International Astronomical Union. Founded in 1919, the International Astronomi cal Union has more than 8,300 members from http://xxx.lanl.gov/ http://NTweb.stsd http://www.atnf.csiro.au/pasa/ http://www.aas.org/publications/baas/ http://www http://www http://www.aavso.org/ http://www.aas.org http://www C S R L N e w s ■ D e c e m b e r 2001 / 1077 66 countries and its Web page serves prima rily as a communication instrument for these members. O f special interest to the general academic researcher, however, is the IAU List o f international astronomy meetings. This list, com piled by librarian Liz Bryson o f the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corpora tion, is a clearinghouse o f upcoming as tronomy meetings with accompanying asso ciation page links, contact information, and abstracts. Registration for automatic updates to the list is also available through this page. Access: http://www.iau.org/. • R oyal A stro n o m ic a l Society o f Canada. In addition to being the platform for society information, this page is a list o f as tronomy-related book sites, reference materi als, catalogs, images, bib liographies, time infor mation, telescopes and other equipment, aster oid charts, and educa tional visual resources. While no search engine is provided, the table of contents also functions as a list o f direct links to the named sites. The page is also available in French. Access: http://www.rasc.ca/. H isto rica l a n d b io g ra p h ic a l re so u rce s in a s tro n o m y • History o f Astronom y Resources. Maintained by Wolfgang R. Dick o f Bonn Uni versity in Germany, this site features highly organized access to astronomy information by category, e.g., “Persons” and “Archives and Libraries,” etc. For academic searching, the online archives are especially useful, provid ing access to oral history projects, general catalogs, and specific (primarily European) libraries’ online resources. Annotations are provided for many selected links, including language notes for non-English resources. “Persons” provides both current and histori cal biographical information for 1,750 astrono mers. Access: http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/ ~pbrosche/hist_astr/ha_general.html. • Star*s Family: The Star Pages. The Star*s Family o f Astronomy and Related Re sources is maintained by Andre Heck o f the Université o f Strasbourg, France, and has been operational since 1994. This page provides a directory o f more than 5,500 personal Web pages o f astronomers and other space scien tists, searchable by name and/or institution. Helpful string search recommendations and keys to abbreviations and acronyms are also found through its title page. Separate links are given for international telephone and fax codes, as well as details, where applicable, for institutions linked through the personal homepage directory. Access: http://cdsweb.u- strasbg.fr/~heck/sfheads.htm. • Women in Astronomy. Developed and maintained by the University o f Toronto As tronomy and Astrophysics Library, this site offers comprehensive and international cov erage o f current issues related to women as tronomers as well as historical resources, bibli ographies, reading lists, photographs, and other images, essays, and biographies. Access: http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/womenbib.html. D is c u s s io n g r o u p s an d co m m u n ic a tio n s c h a n n e ls • National Radio Astronomy Observa tory N e w sg ro u p s an d M ailin g Lists. Through the outreach arm o f the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, this page of fers alphabetical lists for more than 50 as tronomy-related newsgroups and approxi mately 20 astronomy mailing lists. Notations are included for many o f the entries, which give, where applicable, provenance informa tion, primary and secondary subjects, lan guages other than English, full-text availabil ity, pertinent dates, and subscription instruc tions. Access: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/ www/yp_newsgroup.html. • Special Libraries Association’s Phys- ics-Astronomy-Mathematics-Division. De signed as a tool for the subject librarian, the Web site of the Physics-Astronomy-Mathemat- ics Division o f the Special Libraries Associa tion is a handy resource offering links to metasites, directories, databases, catalogs, reference tools, software sites, eprints, orga nizations, and more. Its frequent annotations, clickable table o f contents, and directory of astronomy librarians all add special value to this resource for the information professional. Access: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~dstern/ astro.html. ■ http://www.iau.org/ http://www.rasc.ca/ http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/ http://cdsweb.u- http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/womenbib.html http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/ http://pantheon.yale.edu/~dstern/