Astronomy Research Guide

Subject Librarian: Beth Blanton-Kent

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Databases/Indexes	Web Resources	Go To
Book Indexes Conference Paper Indexes Upcoming Conferences Index Data Archives Dissertations Journal Article Indexes VIRGO (Library Catalog)	Comprehensive Subject Lists Meetings Observatories Organizations Preprints Reference Sources	Astronomy Department Aerospace Engr Research Guide Return To Subject Guides Menu Astronomy Library Brown Library Homepage

Recommended Reference Works

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics

Cambridge Dictionary of Astronomy — Brown Library Reference QB14 .M55 2001

CRCnetBASE
   CRC Press Handbook and Reference Collection in addition to ENGnetBASE

ENGnetBASE
   CRC Press Engineering Handbook and Reference Collection

Knovel Library
   Engineering and Science Handbook and Reference Collection

Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics — Also available in hardcopy in ASTR and Brown Library Reference, QB14 .E534 2001

Referex
Large collection of engineering e-books and references

Scientific and Technical Acronyms, Symbols and Abbreviations

Safari Tech Books Online

Databases / Indexes

Book Indexes

Search these databases for books.

VIRGO
Information on over 4 million books, journals, and other items held in the University of Virginia's libraries, including business, health sciences, and law.
Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information Catalogue
Search for books, technical reports, journals and conference proceedings in all areas of science, engineering, health sciences and agriculture.
Center for Research Libraries Online Catalog
The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is an international not-for-profit consortium of colleges, universities, and libraries that makes available scholarly research resources to users everywhere. These resources include many hard-to-find and scarce items often not readily available elsewhere. UVA faculty and students may request books from CRL's collections via Interlibrary Services.
Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology
The Linda Hall Library, a private institution funded by endowment, serves the scientific research community as a resource for engineering and technical materials, including over 600,000 volumes, 1.1 million microforms, U.S. Patents since 1946, and subscriptions to 16,500 journals.
WorldCat (FirstSearch)
Contains records from thousands of North American libraries.

Conference Proceedings Indexes

Search this database for citations to conference proceedings papers.

Conference Papers Index 1982+ (CSA)
Provides citations to papers and poster sessions presented at major scientific meetings around the world.
eConf Electronic Conference Proceedings Archive
This site provides a fully electronic, Web-accessible archive for the proceedings of scientific conferences in High-Energy Physics and related fields. From Stanford University.
PapersFirst 1993+ (FS)
Citations of papers presented at worldwide meetings, conferences, expositions, workshops, congresses and symposia. Updated monthly.

Data Archives

Search these databases for information about astronomical objects.

Astronomical Data Center
Maintained by NASA, the ADC provides information on over 3,900 data sets in the following broad subject areas: Solar System; Basic Stellar Data; Variable Stars; Interstellar Medium within our Galaxy; Basic Data on Galaxies; Quasars and AGN; Groups and Clusters of Galaxies; Units and Constants; and Common Catalog Names.
Digital Sky Project
Large-area digital sky surveys are a recent and exciting development in astronomical research. The combination of terabyte/teraflops computational resources with the recent large-area surveys in optical, infrared, and radio wavelengths will provide unprecedented capability for astronomical research. With these capabilities, astronomers will have access to a multi-wavelength digital library covering a significant fraction of the real sky. The Digital Sky and the tools for its exploration will help revolutionize multi-wavelength astronomical studies, both by the sheer increase of the data available, and by providing faster and more sophisticated methods for its analysis. The Digital Sky offers a perspective of the universe which is statistical and data-focused, in contrast to traditional work with individual stellar objects.
2 Micron All Sky Survey Home Page
Infrared detector technology has made such huge advances in the past decade that the only existing near-infrared sky survey, which was carried out at Caltech nearly 25 years ago, no longer serves as a useful context within which to interpret observations or select sources for study. The University of Massachusetts is therefore leading a new project, called the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), which will canvas the entire sky for stars and galaxies as much as 50,000 times fainter than the stars seen in the last survey.
National Space Science Data Center
The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) archives and provides access to a wide variety of astrophysics, space physics, solar physics, lunar and planetary data from NASA space flight missions, in addition to selected other data and some models and software. NSSDC provides online information bases about NASA and non-NASA data as well as the spacecraft and experiments that have or will provide public access data. NSSDC also provides information and support relative to data management standards and technologies.
NED - NASA Extragalactic Database
This database is built around a master list of extragalactic objects for which cross-identifications of names have been established, accurate positions and redshifts entered to the extent possible, and some basic data collected. Bibliographic references relevant to individual objects have been compiled, and abstracts of extragalactic interest are kept on-line. Detailed and referenced photometry, position, and redshift data, have been taken from large compilations and from the literature. NED's data and references are being continually updated, with revised versions being put on-line every 2-3 months.
Parallax Project
The Parallax Project is a searchable and browsable digital version of the Publications of the Allegheny Observatory of the University of Pittsburgh, Vols. 1-10 from 1910-1956. This data is available in the Astronomy Library in hardcopy under the call number QB4.A36
SIMBAD
This database provides basic data, cross-identifications and bibliography for astronomical objects outside the solar system. SIMBAD can be queried by object name, coordinates and other criteria (filters). Links to some other databases are also provided.
Spectral Atlas Central
From NOAO, plots and wavelength ranges in air for the following spectra: Thorium Argon, Iron Argon, Helium Neon Argon, and Copper Argon.
SuperCOSMOS Sky Surveys
These pages provide on-line access to the digitised data derived from SuperCOSMOS scans of photographic Schmidt survey plates. Users can extract images (pixel data) up to 15 arcmin across and/or object catalogues covering up to 100 sq. degrees. The data cover three wavebands (BRI), with one colour (R) represented at two epochs.

Journal Indexes

-Search these indexes for citations to journal articles.
-Additional astronomy databases are available on the Brown Library Databases page.
-Use our Find@UVA Journal Finder page to locate E-journals, E-magazines, and E-newspapers.

Astrophysics Data System 1975+
Best database for faculty/graduate student/undergrad major research. This service provides access to about 240,000 astronomical abstracts. Also makes available scanned articles for 16 astronomical journals.
INSPEC 1969+ (Engineering Village)
Scientific and technical journals and conference proceedings in computing, electrical engineering, physics (including cosmology and astrophysics).
INSPEC Archive Science Abstracts 1898-1968 (Ovid)
The Inspec Archive Science Abstracts provides access to 71 years of science abstracts in the fields of physics, electrical engineering, and control technology. In addition to the abstracts, this database includes the accompanying tables, graphs and diagrams when available.
Expanded Academic ASAP 1980+ (Infotrac Web)
Best database for undergraduate research. Articles covering astronomy and general sciences, as well as religion, law, history, psychology, humanities, current events, and sociology.
Web of Science (Science Citation Index) 1970+
Containing Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Web of Science offers multidisciplinary searching and seamless access to cited reference searching. The WOS databases include bibliographic and citation information for articles from over 5,700 science and engineering journals, as well as social sciences and humanities journals. Updated weekly.

Web Resources

Comprehensive Subject Lists

Meetings

International Astronomy Meetings List

Observatories

NRAO - National Radio Astronomy Observatory - Charlottesville Headquarters
United States Virtual Observatory
Yahoo! - Observatories List

Organizations

CIRS.net (Scientific Organization Portal)
American Astronomical Society (AAS)
American Meteor Society
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS) - Smithsonian
European Space Agency
International Dark Sky Association
Lunar and Planetary Institute at the Center for Advanced Space Studies
Meteoritical Society
Physics and Astronomy Departments Worldwide Directory

Preprints

Questions? Call the Brown Library Information Desk at 924-3628.