Some Astronomical and Other Links...

Brief Editorial Comment

Ever get the feeling that most of the Web is just a bunch of links to another bunch of links that point back to the first bunch of links? Think about it, but don't think that this page is going to break that fine net tradition. Anyway, here we go with a bunch of links to elsewhere on the net...

Original material, we don't need no stinking original material...

Don't forget to check out my Obligatory Disclaimer Page.

Quick-Index:
Astronomical Links:
Archival Data / Atomic & Molecular Data
Databases / Observatories & Agencies
Publications / Software
Various Other Astronomy Links
Other Links:
Education Links (Separate Page)
"Fun" Links / Linux Links

Astronomical Links

Archival Data

• CFHT Archive - archival images and spectra from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.
• ESO/ST-ECF Archive - European Southern Observatory archive pages, includes data from HST and various ground based telescopes including the VLT.
• MAST - web interface to various data sets at STScI, including HST, FUSE, IUE and Copernicus ultraviolet spectra.
• NASA National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) - access data from a variety of space missions and some ground based data.

Atomic and Molecular Data

• Atomic Data for Astrophysics - links to basic atomic data required for calculation of the ionization state of astrophysical plasmas and for quantitative spectroscopy.
• Atomic Data for Resonance Absorption Lines - Donald C. Morton's compilation of atomic data for resonance lines with wavelengths longward of the Lyman limit for the elements H to Ge.
• HITRAN - information on the HITRAN collection of molecular data.
• Kelly Atomic Data - search R. L. Kelly's compilation of atomic data.
• Kurucz Atomic Data - search Kurucz CD-ROM 23.
• NIST Atomic Spectroscopic Database - atomic data holdings at the National Institute of Standards and Technology
• JPL Molecular Spectroscopy - another collection of molecular line data.
• TOPBASE - access the Opacity Project databases of atomic properties such as energy levels, f-values and photoionization cross sections at the CDS. There is also a US Mirror at HEASARC.
• VALD - the Vienna Atomic Line Database electronic mail service homepage; instructions for accessing the VALD collection of atomic line parameters.

Astronomical Databases

• The Double Star Library - lists of newly discovered systems or orbits, new astrometric or spectroscopic data for known systems, notices of meetings or observing campaigns, and titles of recently published papers related to double or multiple star systems.
• GCPD: The Lausanne Photometric Database - a comprehensive database of (stellar) photometric data for more than 80 photometric systems, with references and quality controls.
• Hipparcos Space Astrometry Mission - positions, parallaxes, and proper motions from the Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues.
• NED - the NASA Extragalactic Database provides a master list of extragalactic objects for which cross-identifications of names have been established, with accurate positions and redshifts and other basic data collected when available.
• SIMBAD - the Set of Identifications, Measurements, and Bibliography for Astronomical Data is a service (which you must register for) providing a searchable database containing information on over 800,000 stellar and 200,000 non-stellar astronomical objects.
• The Washington Double Star Catalog - database of astrometric double and multiple star data.

Selected Observatories & Government Agencies

• Apache Point Observatory - includes information on the ARC 3.5 meter telescope, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey 2.5 meter telescope, as well as the New Mexico State 1.0 meter telescope.
• Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope - information related to the CFHT 3.6-meter telescope including manuals, schedules, etc.
• CASLEO - the Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito in Argentina (a 2.15-meter telescope).
• Centre de Donnies astronomiques de Strasbourg - the CDS, source of bibliographic services, catalogues, and links to Astronomical Internet resources.
• European Southern Observatory - access data, information, and software related to ESO and HST.
• FUSE - the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer.
• Las Campanas Observatory - Las Campanas Observatory, home of the Magellan Telescopes (twin 6.5-meters) which includes the Clay telescope with the MIKE spectrograph.
• MMTO - the home of the MMT Observatory, the 6.5-meter telescope in Arizona.
• NAS/NAE/IOM/NRC - the home of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council.
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration - the home of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
• National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO):
  • Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory is located near La Serena in Chile.
  • Kitt Peak National Observatory - KPNO is located near Tucson in Arizona.
• Sloan Digital Sky Survey - at Fermilab, progress reports and documentation.
• Space Telescope Science Institute - access information and software related to HST.
• Steward Observatory - many of the University of Arizona's Department of Astronomy and the Steward Observatory (which has several telescopes on Kitt Peak); also includes links to other UofA Astronomy resources.

Astronomical Publications

• Astrophysics Preprints - astro-ph server at LANL.
• ESO Publications - preprints, the Messenger, Star Formation Newsletter, and information about other ESO publications.
• The NASA Astrophysics Data System - search for abstracts and on-line papers.

Astronomical, Mathematical, and Statistical Software Packages

• CCP7 - the Collaborative Computational Project pages at Armagh Observatory containing donated software for the calculation of theoretical models for use in the analysis of stellar and interstellar spectra.
• Cloudy - Gary Ferland's photoionization code.
• HEASARC Software - FTOOLS, XANADU, and other software packages including general purpose FITS tools as well as data reduction software for high-energy Astrophysics missions.
• IDL Astronomy Users Library - repository for general purpose astronomy procedures written in the commercial language IDL, including fitsio, image manipulation, and other tasks.
• IRAF - general purpose, freely available astronomical reduction software.
• MIDAS - the Munich Image Data Analysis System maintained by the European Southern Observatory; provides general tools for image processing and data reduction with emphasis on astronomical applications (including special packages for ESO instrumentation).
• NETLIB - source code repository containing freely available software, documents, and databases for numerical and scientific computing.
• Pikaia - a FORTRAN 77 subroutine for treating multimodal optimization problems that is based on a genetic algorithm. Particularly useful for problems characterized by ill-behaved search spaces.
• SLATEC Common Mathematical Library - library of FORTRAN 77 source code.
• SPECTRUM - spectral synthesis program that runs on PCs.
• The Starlink Project - the Starlink project has ended, but the collection of software to reduce and analyze astronomical data (including IUEDR) is still available (as of August 2005).

Various Other Astronomy Related Links

• AAS Homepage - home of the American Astronomical Society.
• ASP Homepage - home of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
• Astronomical World Wide Web Resources - the listing of everything an Astronomer could want from the Web from STScI.
• The Daily Planet (Weather from UIUC) - Will I be observing tonight?
• Skyview - retrieve data from public all-sky surveys.
• The Star Pages - a set of astronomical "yellow pages" providing searchable indexes for people, places, and things.

"Fun" Links

For Those Rainy Nights

• Field Museum of Natural History - Great Exhibits! Where my wife volunteers.
• Internet Movie Database - answers the questions "I know I have seen that person somewhere before?" and "What was that film that starred (insert name here)?".
• Rec.humor.funny Home Page - search for Jokes from 10 years of rec.humor.funny.
• REI - where I go for hiking and camping gear...
• Sports Information from Yahoo - scores and updates.

Some "Humor" - See what the University of Chicago does to someone!

• Doctor Fun is a cartoon by David Farley who worked (and perhaps still does) at the University of Chicago in the library, if you are humour impared and didn't like "The Far Side" by Gary Larson you probably won't like this much either. To quote the creator "the cartoon occasionally contains mature themes and/or strong language and may not be suitable for younger viewers", you have been warned!
  • Doctor Fun Archive from metalab.unc.edu.

The Skeptic's Zone - Some Net Resources for the Skeptical Mind

• The Skeptic's Dictionary - Bob Carroll's "Guide for the New Millenium". Definitions of tons of occult, paranormal, supernatural and pseudoscientific ideas and practices, including pointers to skeptical and some not-so-skeptical sources of information.
• Constructing a Logical Argument -- a guide to various logical fallacies from the The Secular Web.
• CSICOP - the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, publishers of the Skeptical Inquirer.
• Nizkor Feature: Fallacies - another very nice guide to various logical fallacies.
• Skeptic's Society - web articles and links, including sample articles from Skeptic Magazine.
• Skeptic's Info - Lots of good info and links here, good looking pages - wish I was that organized...
• Talk.origins Archive Home Page - archive of the discussions of the newsgroup talk.origins; topics include evolution, creation, abiogenesis, catastrophism, cosmology, and theology. Very nicely put together.

Useful Linux® Links

• Afterstep is a cool window manager for X, the 1.0 version is what I am running on my home machine right now (I am not so pleased with some of the later versions, but the 1.6/1.7 versions look interesting).
• Astronomical Software on Linux is the home of the linuxastro mailing list and links to Astronomical software packages available for Linux.
• Freshmeat is the place to go to see the latest and greatest software releases.
• GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, not really a Linux project as it runs on many platforms. What does the GIMP do? What doesn't it do... it slices, it dices, it minces, and it chops images... whoops, sorry about that! It is everything from a paint program to a photo retoucher to a image renderer and more! The original Linux Logo was done in an early version of the GIMP, check it out!
• The Linux Applications and Utilities page has a wonderfully organized list of many applications that are available for Linux with links to the source and/or binary distribution sites.
• The Linux Documentation Project is the repository for FAQs, links, and almost anything else for Linux...
• MetaLab is a repository for lots of great stuff including Linux source code and binaries, check it out. Also a source for many fine programs for other operating systems (including Solaris).
• Red Hat Software is the vendor of the distribution I use at the moment (quite a nice distribution too!)... its also the home of the Red Hat Package Manager whichs makes adding applications a LOT easier.
• The (somewhat mis-named) Scientific Applications on Linux page has package information and links to web pages and/or downloads for a multitude of free and commercial software packages. Misnamed since it includes links to word processors and so forth, as well as scientific applications and libraries.
• Slashdot.org which presents "News for Nerds" by linking to articles of note, presenting editorials, and (best of all) allows you to look at the comments of other site users. More than just a Linux site, it includes coverage of the computer industry with interesting, although I will admit sometimes annoying, commentary by people who know and people who need 30 whacks with a clue stick. Run by Rob Malda who has also done some great stuff for the Window Maker, Enlightenment and After Step window managers.
• User Friendly is a comic strip (not just Linux related so strictly speaking it really doesn't belong here, but the attitude fits so here it is) about people working at an ISP.
• WindowMaker is a cool window manager for X, the 0.51.2 version is what I am running on my work machine right now.
• X-ISP is a VERY handy program to get your PPP link up and running. Makes configuration of and switching between multiple servers trivial, highly recommended.
• X.org is the place to get X Window system software. For older systems prior releases at XFree86 may be useful, although new releases (if any) are not recommended due to the switch to a non-GPL compatible license.
• And for games check out the Linux Game Tome, since what would life be without some fun?

Quick-Index:
Astronomical Links:
Archival Data / Atomic & Molecular Data
Databases / Observatories & Agencies
Publications / Software
Various Other Astronomy Links
Other Links:
Education Links (Separate Page)
"Fun" Links / Linux Links

Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. Please see the Linux Mark Institute for more information.

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Return to Northwestern University's Astronomy home page

Please see my Obligatory Disclaimer Page.