References

• Westminster Reference Library, 35 St. Martin's Street, London WC2H 7HP (off Leicester Square) holds many of the major reference books listed, including some not held in the RAS.
• Where appropriate, Royal Astronomical Society Library location references are in [brackets].

Abbott, D. (ed.). The Biographical Dictionary of Scientists. Astronomers. Blond Educational, London. (1984). ISBN 0-584-70002-4. [QB 35]

Academie des Sciences (Paris). Index Biographique des Membres et Correspondents de l'Academie des Sciences (1666-1954). Gauthier-Villars, Paris. (1954). [not held]

American Men and Women of Science, 20th ed., 8 vols. R.R. Bowker, New Providence (N.J.). [c. 1998]. [not held]

American National Biography. 24 vols. Oxford University Press, for the American Council of Learned Societies. (1999). (Hard copy or Online). (Formerly Dictionary of American Biography). [Not held]

Andersson, L.E. and Whitaker, E.A. NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. (NASA RP1097). (1982). No ISBN. [QB 595 oversize]

Ashbrook, J. The Astronomical Scrapbook. Cambridge University Press. (1984). ISBN 0-521-30045-2. [QB 51]

Astronomischen Gesellschaft. Portratgallerie der Astronomischen Gesellschaft. Stockholm. (1904, 1931). [QB 35]

Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vols. 1-43, (1955-1997). [GALL 35B]

Bennett, J.A. Catalogue of the Archives and Manuscripts of the Royal Astronomical Society. Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 85. (1978) (available on-line )

Berendzen,R., Hart,R., and Seeley,D. Man Discovers the Galaxies. Science History Publications, New York. (1976). ISBN 0-88202-023-4. [QB 32] 

Bhathal, R.S. Australian Astronomers. National Library of Australia, Canberra. (1996). ISBN 0 642 10666 5. [QB 35]

Boase,F. Modern English Biography. 6 vols. Netherton & Worth, Truro. (1892-1921). Latest reprint, Thoemmes P., Bristol. (2000). A fertile source of eighteenth and nineteenth century nonentities!. [not held]

British Astronomical Association. Who's Who in the Moon. Memoirs of the British Astronomical Association, Volume 34 Part 1. (1938).

Clifton, G. Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers, 1550-1851. Zwemmer, in association with the National Maritime Museum, London. (1995). ISBN 0 302 00634 6. [QB 85, oversize]

Cocks, E.E. and Cocks, J.C. Who's Who on the Moon. Tudor Publishers, Greensboro. (1995). ISBN 0 936389 27 3. [QB 581]

Crawforth, M.A. Makers and Dates. Bull.Sci.Instr.Soc. 13 1987, 2-8. [Gall 37A]

Cunningham. Introduction to Asteroids. Willmann-Bell Inc., Richmond, Va. (1988). ISBN 0-943396-16-6. [QB 651 oversize]

Debus,A.G. World Who's Who in Science from Antiquity to the Present. Marquis Who's Who, Chicago. (1968). [ML 27H]

De Vorkin, D.H. The History of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics; a selected, annotated bibliography. Garland Publishing, New York. (1982). ISBN 0-8240-9283-X. [ML 27H]

Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. (Compact ed., 1960 [Microprint], ML 27H). (Concise Dictionary, 1950, ML 27H). [DNB also available as CD-ROM, 1996 - not held]

Dictionary of National Biography. Missing Persons. Oxford University Press. (1993). ISBN 0 19 865211 9. [ML 27H]

Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1981-1990). 18 vols. Scribner, New York. [ML 27H]

Emden, A.B. A Biographical Register of the University of Cambridge to 1500. Cambridge University Press. (1963). ISBN 0521048966. [not held]

Foster, J. Alumni Oxonienses: the members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714, 1715-1886. Parker, Oxford. (1888-1892). Latest reprint, Thoemmes P., Bristol. (2000), ISBN 185506846X, 1855068478. [not held].

Friedrich, K. The International Portrait Catalogue of the Archenhold Observatory. Veroffentlichungen der Archenhold-Sternwarte Berlin–Treptow, No 11, 1984. (QB 35)

Guthrie, D. List of Portraits in the Royal Society of Edinburgh, with biographical notes. Year Book of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1959/60. [not held]

Hall, A.R. The Abbey Scientists. Westminster Abbey (1966). [QB 35]

Hammill, G. The Royal Society's Portraits and Busts, Royal Society, London. (1976).

Haynes, R. et al. Explorers of the Southern Sky. Cambridge University Press. (1996). ISBN 0 521 36575 9. [QB 33 Australia]

History of the Royal Astronomical Society. Vol 1, 1820-1920, by Dreyer, J.L.E. and Turner, H.H. RAS, London. (1923). Reprinted Blackwell Scientific, Oxford (1987), ISBN 0-632-02173-X. Vol 2, 1920-1980, by Tayler, R.J. Blackwell Science, Oxford. (1987). ISBN 0-632-01791-0. [QB 33]

Houzeau, J.C. and Lancaster, A. Bibliographie Generale de l'Astronomie jusqu'en 1880. Revised, D.W.Dewhirst. 3 vols. Holland Press, London. (1964). [ML28G].

ISIS Cumulative Bibliography: a bibliography of the history of science formed from ISIS critical bibligraphies 1-90, 1913-1965. ed. M. Whitrow. Vols. 1-2, part I. Personalities. Mansell, London. (1971).

ISIS Cumulative Bibliography: a bibliography of the history of science formed from ISIS critical bibliographies 91-100, indexing literature published from 1965 through 1974. ed. J. Neu. Vol. l Personalities and Institutions. Mansell, London. (1980).

ISIS Cumulative Bibliography: a bibliography of the history of science formed from ISIS critical bibliographies 101-110, indexing literature published from 1975 through 1984. ed. J. Neu. Vol. 1. Persons and Institutions. Mansell, London. (1990).

ISIS Cumulative Bibliography, 1986-1995: a bibliography of the history of science formed from the annual ISIS current bibliographies. Ed. J. Neu. Vols. 1-2. Persons. Science History Publications, Canton, Ma. (1997).

Jarrell, R.A. The Cold Light of Dawn. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. (1988). ISBN 0 8020 2653 2. [QB 33 Canada]

Johns. G. Portraits in the Ernst Zinner Collection, San Diego State University. San Diego. (1975). [QB 35]

Journal of the British Astronomical Association. General Index to volumes 1 to 50 (1890 to 1940). General Index, volumes 51 to 100 (1940 October to 1990 December). [ML 33A]

Lane Poole, Mrs R. Catalogue of Portraits in the Possession of the University,Colleges, City and County of Oxford . 3 vols. Clarendon P. for the Oxford Historical Society, Oxford. (1912-1926) [not held]

Lankford,J. A Crisis in Documentation; the decline of the Obituary as a source for the History of Modern Astronomy. Bull. Amer. Astron. Soc, 16 (2). (1984). [Gallery 9E]

Learner,R. Astronomy Through the Telescope. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. (1981). ISBN 0-442-25839-9. [QB 88, oversize]

Lick Observatory. Preliminary Finding Aid to the Archives of the Lick Observatory. American Institute of Physics, New York. (1980). ISBN 0-88318-263-7. Also available on the Lick Archives pages of the University of California, Santa Cruz website. [QB 82 Lick, oversize].

Markham, Sir C.R. A Memoir of the Indian Surveys. London. (2 eds), 1871, 1878. [QB 281, oversize]

Matulaityte, S. Astronomai: Bibliografine rodykle [Astronomers: Bibliographical Index]. State Republican Library of the Lithuanian SSR. Vilnius. (1965). [not held]

Menzel, D. et al. Report on Lunar Nomenclature. Space Science Reviews, Volume 12 1971 pp 136-186. (Gallery 4A)

Mitton, J. Cambridge Dictionary of Astronomy. Cambridge University Press. (2001). ISBN 0521804809. 

Moore, P. Armchair Astronomy. Patrick Stephens, Wellingborough. (1984). ISBN 0-85059-718-8. [QB 44]

Moore, P. The Astronomy Encyclopaedia. Mitchell Beazley, London. (1987). ISBN 0-85533-604-8. [QB14]

O'Donoghue, F. Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. 6 vols. British Museum, London. (1908-25). [not held]

Ormond, R. and Rogers, M., eds. Dictionary of British Portraiture. 4 volumes. Batsford, in association with National Portrait Gallery, London. (1979-81). [not held]

Phillimore, R.H. Historical Records of the Survey of India 4 vols, Dehra Dun 1945-58. [QB 281, oversize]

Poggendorff,J.C. (1863 to date). Biographisch-Literarisches Handworterbuch zur Geschichte der Exacten Wissenschaften .... various series, originally Barth, Leipzig, currently Wiley-VCH. Still in progress. [SR 5D-E]

Ridpath, I. (ed.) A Dictionary of Astronomy. Oxford University Press. (2007). ISBN 978-0-19-921493-8. [QB 14].

Robinson, N.H. The Royal Society Catalogue of Portraits. Royal Society, London. (1980). ISBN 0 85403 136 7. [QB 35].

Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. The Manuscript Papers of British Scientists, 1600-1940. HMSO, London. (1982). ISBN 0 11 440122 5. [SR 5E]. Also included in the UK National Register of Archives on the Historical Manuscripts Commission website

Royal Society. Catalogue of Pictures and Medals in the Possession of the Royal Society. Royal Society, London, 1912. [not held] 

Royal Society. List of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1660-2000. Royal Society, London. (2001). No ISBN. Also available on the Royal Society's website [QB 1].

Royal Society. Obituaries and Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1830-2000. Royal Society, London. (2001). No ISBN. Also available on the Society's website [QB 1].

Rukl, A. Maps of Lunar Hemispheres. Reidel, Dordrecht. (1972). ISBN 90-277-0221-7. [QB 595]

Schmadel, L. D. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. 4th ed. Springer, Berlin. (1999). ISBN 3 540 66292 8, [QB 651].

Scott Barr, E. An Index to Biographical Fragments in Unspecialized Scientific Journals. University of Alabama Press. (1973). ISBN 0-8173-9603-9. [ML 28G]

Stroobant, P. and Belgian National Committee. Bibliography of Astronomy 1881-1898. 18 reels microfilm plus explanatory booklet by J.B.Sykes. University Microfilms, High Wycombe. (1970). [Grove-Hills cabinet]

Taylor, E.G.R. The Mathematical Practitioners of Tudor and Stuart England. Cambridge University Press. (1954). Latest reprint, Cambridge University Press. (1970). [QB 85]

Taylor, E.G.R. The Mathematical Practitioners of Hanoverian England 1714-1840. Cambridge University Press. (1966). [QB 85]

Turkevich, J. Soviet Men of Science. Princeton. (1963). [not held].

Venn,J. and Venn,J.A. Alumni Cantabrigienses: a biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900. Cambridge University Press. (1922-1954). Reprinted, Krauz, Nendeln (1974-1978). [not held]

Whitaker, E.A. Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. (1999). ISBN: 0521622484.

Who's Who in America.Marquis Who's Who, New Providence (N.J.) [not held].

Wilkins, H.P., and Moore, P. The Moon. Faber and Faber. London. (1958). [QB 581]

Yung, K.K. National Portrait Gallery Complete Illustrated Catalogue. 4 volumes. NPG, London. (1981). Supplement, 1980-1995, by J. Franklin. (1995). [not held]

Zinner, E. Deutsche und Niederlandische Astronomische Instrumente des 11-18 Jahrunderts. 2nd ed. Beck, Munich. (1967). Reprinted Beck, Munich (1979). [QB 85]

The information in this document is believed to be correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change. We welcome corrections or suggestions; please contact the a href="/library/information-sheets/79?task=view#staff">RAS Librarian or webmaster.

• 1. Published Sources
• 2. Private sources
• 3. Archival sources
• 4. Web resources

References

Download a printable version of this document

• NASA Multimedia Gallery. Portal for NASA's photo, video, audio and arts galleries of NASA audio-visual products, including the NASA Image eXchange. It is not a unified searchable data base.
• NASA Image eXchange (NIX), is the first step towards a comprehensive online collection of NASA images, and comprises a web-based search engine for simultaneously searching one or more of NASA's online image and photo collections; additional collections are gradually being added to the scheme.

Portraits

Though many portraits have been published, many more remain unreproduced, and some searches may need recourse to original material. Some sources listed under 'Biographical material' will also include portraits. For historical figures, the nature of material available will depend on when the subject lived.

Where portraits are required for reproduction the need to obtain permission to reproduce copyright images should be borne in mind.

It should also be borne in mind that there are some quite notable astronomical figures for whom no portrait has been traced, and it is quite likely that none ever will be. Examples include the notable solar astronomer, R.C.Carrington, J. Birmingham, and Robert Hooke. It is rarely possible to identify the subjects of portraits with few or no clues to help.

The obvious source for portraits of living or recently-deceased astronomers is the department or other institution to which they are, or were, affiliated.

 

1. Published Sources

There are many books and journal articles illustrated by portraits, and suitable biographical sources listed above should be consulted, particularly Sky and Telescope. Some books including numerous portrait illustrations are those by Berendzen, Hart and Seeley (which includes many modern astrophysicists); Learner; and the Astronomischen Gesellschaft (1904, 1931) (many small medallion portraits of then active astrophysicists; worldwide but inevitably strong on European figures).

Patrick Moore's The Astronomy Encyclopaedia includes a number of portraits. Portrait photographs of BAA Presidents are often published in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association about the time of their presidency, as well as some other notable figures. In the case of astronomers noted for work in specific fields it is well worth looking in books on that field, other than overtly historical ones, as they will often include an historical summary (for example, Cunningham's book on Asteroids). Quite a few International Astronomical Union Symposia include such summaries.

For British sitters there is a 4-volume reference work, Ormond and Rogers' Dictionary of British Portraiture, giving locations of many images. To this may be added Yung's catalogue of National Portrait Gallery holdings (1981), Franklin's 1995 supplement to this, and the older work by O'Donoghue on the British Museum's holdings of portrait engravings.

The Society has a collection of portraits, predominantly photographs but including some engravings and paintings; most date from between 1850 and 1940, but there is some older and newer material. A portrait is held of every President the Society has had. A card index exists of most of the collection, which is being progressively included in the supplement to the Archives catalogue. A Microsoft Word version of Bennett's catalogue of the RAS archives is available in the Library, together with a large draft addendum in which archives or portraits of individuals may be sought. Original photographic portraits in the hands of the British Astronomical Association are included in the RAS card index, and may be viewed by permission of the Officers of the Association.

For scientists of sufficient eminence to be commemorated in Westminster Abbey, Hall's The Abbey Scientists will indicate memorials, busts etc. Some published lists will be a guide to sitters distinguished by nationality or Society; for Fellows of the Royal Society there are Robinson's 1980 catalogue, Hammill's 1976 catalogue, and the older Royal Society catalogue of portraits of 1912. Scots may well feature in Guthrie's List of Portraits in the Royal Society of Edinburgh, while for Oxford figures there is Lane Poole's Catalogue of Portraits. For Canadian figures there seems to be no systematic published list, but it may be worth writing to the Librarian of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 136 Dupont Street, Toronto, Ontario M5R 1V2, Canada, or to the National Library in Ottawa.

 

2. Private sources

There are various sources of portrait material which for one reason or another are not freely available to the public. Portraits of historical figures may be found in the Mary Evans Picture Library, a commercial picture agency which charges for access and for supply of material. Similar sources potentially useful for more recent astronomers, astronauts, and cosmonauts include the Science Photo Library and the Hulton|Archive, commercial picture libraries whose stock includes NASA pictures. Cosmonauts here are from the period of collaboration between Russia and the USA. Pictures of cosmonauts from the USSR period can also be ordered from the Russian Information Agency–Novosti (RIA-Novosti), whose London office retains an archive of photographs from the Soviet/Russian space programme. Finally, the British Interplanetary Society is a good source of space material, but is normally only open to its own members.

 

Addresses:

British Interplanetary Society, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ; Tel: 020-7735-3160; Fax: 020-7820-1504; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Hulton|Archive, Unique House, 21-31 Woodfield Road, London W9 2BA; Tel: 020 7266 2662 (Sales), 020 7579 5777 (Research); Fax: 020 7266 3154, 020 7266 2414; E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (Research), This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (Sales).

Mary Evans Picture Library, 59 Tranquil Vale, Blackheath, London SE3 0BS; Tel: 020 8318 0034. Fax: 020 8852 7211.

Russian Information Agency–Novosti (RIA-Novosti) (Russian HQ only). London office: 3 Rosary Gardens, London SW7 4NW; Tel: 020-7370-1873 (photo library); Fax: 020-7244-7875; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Science Photo Library, 327-329 Harrow Road, London W9 3RB; Tel: 020-7432-1100; Fax: 020-7286-8668.

 

3. Archival sources

Many archival sources are privately run, and in all cases it is normal courtesy to make preliminary contact by letter (enclosing s.a.e.) or telephone to ascertain whether it is possible to visit. Information is sometimes available on the relevant website.

American Institute of Physics, Center for History of Physics, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3843, Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Includes the Emilio Segre Visual Archives, focusing on 20th century American physicists and astronomers, but including many scientists in Europe and elsewhere, and in earlier times.

California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91125, Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Contains the Caltech Archives PhotoNet, an online database containing thousands of images, including portraits.

International Index. At the Archenhold Observatory, East Berlin, the Director, Dr D.B.Herrmann, is compiling an international index of holdings of portraits of astronomers. A handlist of this up to 1984 by K. Friedrich is held at the RAS, and more up-to-date information can be obtained by writing to Dr D.B.Hermann, Director, Archenhold-Sternwarte, Alt-Treptow 1, 12435 Berlin, Germany, Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Note that they do not hold the portraits themselves but can supply guidance as to where they can be found.

Lick Observatory Archives. An excellent source for portraits especially 20th century and American figures is the Mary Lea Shane Archives of the Lick Observatory, held at 359 McHenry Library, University of California, Santa Cruz CA 95064, Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The handlist of this collection is now available on their website, and is also available at the RAS, Lick Observatory, Preliminary Finding Aid to the Archives of the Lick Observatory, pp 43-54.

Museum of the History of Science, Image Library, Old Ashmolean Building, Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3AZ, Tel: 01865 277285: Fax: 01865 277288; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Holds a large collection of photographs, including portraits of scientists and instrument makers.

NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Imagery Services.
Contains the NASA JSC Digital Image Collection, the most comprehensive NASA collection for portraits, which spans the whole manned space programme and includes portraits of cosmonauts for missions on which the USA and Russia collaborated. Images can be downloaded from its website; for publication-quality pictures, contact Media Resource Center, 2101 NASA Road 1, Building 423/AP32/IMPASS, Houston, TX 77058, USA.

National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London WC2H 0HE, is the national repository of portraiture and has many portraits of British scientists. They can also supply references to portrait holdings in other repositories. Portraits in the Gallery's Primary Collection are held in the Picture Library; the Heinz Archive and Library should be contacted for more complex enquiries. Picture Library: Tel: 020 7312 2473/6; Fax: 020 7312 2464; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Heinz Archive and Library: Tel: 020 7306 0055 ext 257; Fax: 020 7306 0056; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Royal Greenwich Observatory archives, now held by Cambridge University Library. These have a number of portraits including all the Astronomers Royal and some other figures connected with Greenwich Observatory. Contact Adam Perkins, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR, Tel: 01223 333000 (Enquiries); Fax: 01223 333160: Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Royal Society, 6 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG; Tel: 020-7451-2606; Fax: 020 7930 2170; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Has numerous portraits mainly of former Fellows.

San Diego State University Library, Malcolm A. Love Library, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego CA 92182-8050; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Holds the Ernst Zinner collection of portraits, mainly of astronomers, though many are secondary copies. This catalogue is now available on their website, and a handlist by G. Johns is also available for consultation.

Science & Society Picture Library
Has since 1998 represented the collections of the National Museum of Science and Industry, comprising the Science Museum, the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, and the National Railway Museum. It can be contacted at the Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD; Tel: 020-7942 4400; Fax: 020 7942 4401: Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . It holds numerous portraits (not restricted to British subjects).

 

4. Websites

Portrait Websites:

Astro Info Service. Their services include biographical profiles of astronauts and cosmonauts, with portraits, which will eventually be available by mail order; some of these can be downloaded from their website.

MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews. Portraits of many individuals are available, and can be downloaded as posters.

 

NASA websites:

These can be used to locate portraits of astronauts, and cosmonauts involved in US space missions. NASA does not currently make copies of images directly available to the general public, but images may be downloaded from its websites. Many of these offer multiple formats for the images, including high-resolution versions suitable for printing. Publication-standard copies of NASA images may also be obtained by media representatives or NASA research partners by contacting the Public Affairs Office of the responsible NASA Center– a good one for portraits is the Johnson Space Center (JSC); they may also be purchased from certain commercial sources – those in the UK include the Science Photo Library (q.v.) and the Hulton|Archive (q.v.). 'Off-the-peg' NASA images and products are available from local science centres and planetaria.

Contents:

• 1. If the subject is alive, or died within the last 50 years
• 2. If the subject is deceased
• 3. General biography in the RAS Library
• 4. Sources of biography of RAS Members
• 5. Obituaries in other sources
• 6. Miscellaneous biographical sources
• 7. Bibliographical materials used as biographical sources
• 8. If the date of death is roughly known and the figure is of reasonable eminence
• 9. Nomenclature for lunar features and other celestial objects
• 10. Archival Material
• 11. Web resources (Biographical, Archival, Bibliographical)

Portraits

References

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This document is intended to serve as a general guide to researchers, and particularly as an aid to those using the RAS Library. The sources are arranged roughly in order of the prospect of finding useful information, tempered by accessibility. Researchers requiring RAS images for publication should refer to the Library Information Sheet Notes for Picture Researchers.

The chances of a successful search are improved if as much information as possible is assembled in advance; for example, the full name (correctly spelt!), nationality, approximate dates of birth and death, places of work, specialisms, society memberships, and so on.

A full bibliography of the sources referred to in the following text is appended at the end of this document; in the text, links to the bibliography are flagged in colour.

List of Abbreviations:

Biographical Sources

1. If subject is alive, or died within the last 50 years

Try Who’s Who. For recent British and European scientists try Who’s Who in Science in Europe and, for North American ones, American Men and Women of Science. Some US astronomers omitted from the latter are included in the American National Biography (successor to The Dictionary of American Biography).

For Russians, or citizens of countries in the former USSR, try J. Turkevich’s Soviet Men of Science and for Lithuanians, S. Matulaityte’s Astronomers: Bibliographical Index. Also try Abbott’s Biographical Dictionary and Debus’s World Who’s Who in Science.

Information on living astronomers, or those who have very recently died, can be the most difficult of all to obtain, as obituaries have not yet been published. Obvious current biographical sources such as Who’s Who, publications such as Who’s Who in America, and the Year Book of the Royal Society can be tried. Books by the subject may have biographical information on their covers. There are lists of IAU members in the International Astronomical Union's publications, the journal Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, and the IAU’s website. Information on living astronomers can also be gleaned by using the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) website to find their recent papers, and perhaps affiliation.

The RAS does not give out addresses of living Fellows, but any Fellow can be written to c/o the Society. Astronomy & Geophysics, and its predecessor, the Quarterly Journal, report citations made on presentation of RAS awards, which may include biographical details, and The Observatory reports on meetings to commemorate distinguished Fellows. Awards with a wider appeal, such as appointments of Astronomers Royal, are often reported in journals such as Nature and Astronomy Now.

Consult the Dictionary of Scientific Biography. This work includes short biographies of many past scientists and excellent bibliographies which can be used to find the significant literature on the subject up to the date of publication. The following, mentioned above, also contain information on scientists of earlier years: American Men and Women of Science; American National Biography; Abbott’s Biographical Dictionary; Debus’s World Who’s Who in Science.

3. General Biography in the RAS Library

To find biographical books and pamphlets in the RAS library, look in the subject catalogue under QB 36, where such material is listed in alphabetical order of subject. Biographies of scientists in fields other than astronomy have also been put there for convenience in a single sequence. It might also be worth browsing through QB 35, which lists collected biographical works.

Did the subject live beyond 1820? Then if they were a member of the RAS (normally a Fellow, but possibly an Associate), they may have been recorded by an obituary on their death.

An Index to obituary notices of RAS Fellows and Associates, with links to the original papers, is available online. Mostly the obituaries appeared in the Society’s own publications (Quarterly Journal, Monthly Notices, Memoirs, etc.) but links are also given to obituaries in other sources that are available online. In 1997 a new journal, Astronomy & Geophysics, replaced the RAS’s Quarterly Journal. However, Astronomy & Geophysics is not at present freely available online so obituaries therein are not as yet included in the Index.

For the majority of RAS Fellows (the exception being a few of the early ones) the Library should have the form or proposal for election, giving the address, titles, and sponsors. (Note that this information will normally only be given for Fellows who have been dead for at least 40 years.) As a double check against omissions, it may be worth consulting the lists of new members given in early volumes of Monthly Notices and Memoirs.

If an obituary exists, it normally indicates that the member was held in a certain esteem by the Society although, as in most journals, the number of published obituaries has declined over the years (see Lankford's article A Crisis in Documentation for a description of this process). Obituaries generally give a good amount of personal and professional information, and may also give clues to other sources such as memberships of other societies.

The RAS Library’s Online Catalogue should be checked for books and pamphlets by the subject, and the Catalogue of Archives and Manuscripts for any papers and correspondence held by the Library. A supplement to the published Archive catalogue can be consulted in the Library. Detailed information and anecdotal accounts on many figures in the RAS’s history can be found in the two-volume History of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Another journal, associated with the Society but not published by it, is The Observatory. In its earlier years this included many biographical snippets, along with a few portraits and group photographs, and there are cumulative indexes up to vol. 90 (1970). Links to obituaries published in The Observatory are included in the online Index.

5. Obituaries in other sources

If it is likely that the person was a Fellow of the Royal Society, the RS has produced an invaluable List of Fellows from 1660 to date, and an index to obituaries (which were only published from 1830). Obituaries appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (1800–1932), the Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society (1932–1955, not held in the RAS Library), and the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (1955 to date). The Royal Society also maintains the Sackler Archive Resource, a database offering access to biographical information on Fellows of the Royal Society.

Obituaries are also to be found in a number of other journals specialised by subject or nationality:

Journal of the British Astronomical Association is applicable to subjects who died after 1890 and particularly to amateur astronomers. There is a published index to Vols 1–50 (1890–1940), and R.A. Marriott has recently published a second volume covering Vols 51–100 (1940–1990). A.J. Kinder, Hon. Librarian of the British Astronomical Association, has compiled a list of all BAA members from 1890; he may be able to answer postal enquiries on particular names. (Mr A.J. Kinder, c/o BAA, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0DU).

Astrophysical Journal formerly included obituaries of internationally famous figures and those associated with the journal.

L’Astronomie has many obituaries since 1888, mainly of French astronomers but some US/international ones also (in French). Annual indices only.

Journal of the Association of Lunar & Planetary Observers has some short notices; some years indexed, but not all.

Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific regularly included obituaries up to Volume 82 (1970; less regularly thereafter), with an emphasis on West Coast Americans, but also many British and European figures. Indexes exist for each 25 volumes then 76-82.

The above journals are indexed on the ARIBIB online index, and scanned versions of most are available on the ADS website.

6. Miscellaneous biographical sources.

The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts’ The Manuscript Papers of British Scientists is a useful source, as is the Guide to the manuscript papers of British scientists produced by the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists. The Historical Manuscripts Commission has compiled a UK National Register of Archives, which includes references to papers of persons and families relating to British history, plus connected records, in a network of locations in the UK and abroad.

There are many biographical references in Sky & Telescope magazine (naturally strong on American astronomers). An unpublished biographical index to Sky & Telescope, last revised 2005, has been compiled by Kevin Krisciunas and can be accessed on his website.

De Vorkin’s bibliography The History of Modern Astronomy contains many references to biographical articles, including those where the influence of a subject’s work is discussed in context. Also try Abbott’s Biographical Dictionary, Debus’s World Who’s Who in Science, and Poggendorff’s Biographisch-Literarisches Handworterbuch (1863 to date).

For references to contemporary articles, obituaries and portraits in journals such as Nature and Philosophical Magazine up to about 1930, see Scott Barr Index to Biographical Fragments in Unspecialized Scientific Journals.

For British figures of any period up to 1960 try the Dictionary of National Biography. The Concise Dictionary down to 1950 is on the RAS Library’s open shelves and contains short references to anyone who is in the full version, which also has supplements to 1960 and is available in the Library in the Compact Edition, in microprint form (i.e. readable with a magnifying glass). A complete revision of the DNB was published in 2004; some of the more glaring omissions were included in a stopgap Missing Persons volume. A less well-known supplement to this is Boase’s Modern English Biography, which may be available in libraries.

Taylor’s books on Mathematical Practitioners contain much information on instrument makers and others associated with astronomy but must be used with caution in the light of later research. These books have been supplanted for instrument makers, though not for other figures such as publishers, by Clifton’s Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers (see Crawforth’s article in the Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society for a guide to the use of this and other printed and manuscript sources on instrument makers). The Germanic equivalent of this book is Zinner’s work on German and Dutch instrument makers.

Two books of collected short essays contain a number of biographical notes and portraits including some obscure figures; Patrick Moore’s Armchair Astronomy and Ashbrook's Astronomical Scrapbook.

Two less well-known sources of considerable use for minor British figures (especially clergymen) are Venn’s Alumni Cantabrigienses, Foster’s Alumni Oxonienses and Emden’s Biographical Registers of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Together these provide details on all Oxford and Cambridge graduates up to 1886 and 1900 respectively. Records of French scientists may well be sought in the Academie des Sciences Index Biographique. Astronomers associated with survey work in India up to 1843 may be found in the numerous biographical notes in Phillimore’s four-volume work on the Survey of India, amplified by Markham’s later book.

7. Bibliographical materials used as biographical sources

Bibliographical sources may be consulted to find books and articles by the subject and some may also reveal obituaries if the volumes near a known date of death are scrutinized. These include:

Up to 1925: Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers.

Up to 1880: Houzeau and Lancaster Bibliographie Generale de l’Astronomie – consult the biographie/necrologie sections of vols. I & II and the name index to vol. I in the 1964 edition. Covers material up to 1880. Included in ARIBIB index.

1881–1898: Stroobant, P. and Belgian National Committee for Astronomy. Bibliography of Astronomy 1881–1898.

1899–1968: Astronomischer Jahresbericht. Biographical articles indexed under author not subject, necessary to look in biographical section. Included in ARIBIB index.

1969–2000: Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts. Similarily look in sections 005/006/007 (Biography, Personal Notes, Obituaries); again, subjects’ names are not indexed. Included in ARIBIB index.

A series of bibliographies dealing specifically with the history of science (not held by the RAS):
ISIS Cumulative Bibliography: a bibliography of the history of science formed from ISIS critical bibliographies.
Four series to date, covering ISIS critical bibliographies from 1913 to 1995.

8. If the date of death is roughly known and the figure is of reasonable eminence

It may be worth consulting the index to The Times for any valedictory notes. Westminster Reference Library holds the printed index to The Times, and microfilms of the paper. Most large libraries have the Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th ed., 1911, the best edition for pre-1910 history and biography, British and foreign.

9. Nomenclature for Lunar Features and Other Celestial Objects

Requests are often received at the RAS as to the identity of people whose names are attached to lunar features, or for the location of a named feature. The following items will give a start. Menzel’s Report on Lunar Nomenclature is an authoritative reference. Recent works to illuminate this complex field include Cocks and Cocks’ Who’s Who on the Moon, and Ewen Whitaker's book, Mapping and Naming the Moon. Earlier sources include the BAA’s Who's Who in the Moon (a complete revision of which is currently in progress) and Wilkins & Moore’s The Moon. Andersson and Whitaker’s NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature gives a detailed list of names and positions, while Rukl’s Maps of Lunar Hemispheres provides key maps. The IAU WGPSN authorises the naming of important features on the surface of planets and satellites, and their Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature is maintained by the United States Geological Survey.

There are many astronomers, and others, whose achievements are recorded in the naming of a Minor Planet. Potted biographies are to be found in Lutz Schmadel’s Dictionary of Minor Planet Names.

There are a few objects which have non-systematic ‘customary’ names, such as the Gum Nebula, or Barnard’s Star, and the best place to start to research these is in the various dictionaries of astronomy, such as Ian Ridpath’s Dictionary of Astronomy, or Jacqueline Mitton’s Cambridge Dictionary of Astronomy.

10. Archival Material

There is not space here to list all the possible sources of manuscript material, and a research project of this kind is in any case a different matter from looking up printed references. The archives of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the RAS, and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh contain much material of use to the would-be biographer. The Catalogue of RAS Archives and Manuscripts, compiled by Dr J.A. Bennett and originally published in the Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society vol. 85 (1978), is available on-line.

11. Websites

11.a Biographical Websites

MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews. Collection of over 1000 biographies and historical articles of a mathematical nature; features include birthplace maps, the facility to check mathematicians who were born or died on a given date, and the Davis Archive of women who graduated in mathematics from British and Irish universities prior to 1940. Portraits of many individuals are available, and can be downloaded as posters.

Astronomiae Historia / History of Astronomy. Originally created for the Astronomische Gesellschaft; since 1998 it has also been maintained on behalf of Commission 41 ( History of Astronomy ) of the International Astronomical Union. Provides information for historians of astronomy and related fields. Includes short biographies and very comprehensive selection of biographical website links, organised into categories.

Astro Info Service. Formed in 1982 by Dave Shayler, co-founder and chairman of the Midlands Spaceflight Society, to distribute information on human space exploration, including that from the former USSR, using official documentation from major space agencies. Their services include biographical profiles of astronauts and cosmonauts, with portraits, which will eventually be available by mail order; some of these can be downloaded from their website.

11.b Archive Websites:

Historical Manuscripts Commission (formerly Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts), UK National Register of Archives. Includes references to papers of persons and families relating to British history, plus connected records, in a network of national and local record offices, university libraries and specialist repositories in the UK and abroad.

Archives Hub, maintained on behalf of the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL), provides a single point of access to descriptions of archives held in UK universities and colleges, and forms one part of the UK’s National Archives Network.

Access to Archives (A2A), maintained at the Public Record Office, contains catalogues of archives (largely local record offices) from all over England. Includes section of web links for family historians.

11.c Bibliographical Websites:

ARIBIB (Astronomisches Rechen-Institut Heidelberg Bibliographical Database for Astronomical References). The most comprehensive free Web index to bibliographies of older astronomical material; includes articles indexed by Houzeau and Lancaster. The most comprehensive free Web index to bibliographies of older astronomical material; includes articles indexed by Bibliographie Generale de l’Astronomie, Astronomischer Jahresbericht and Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts. Does not (currently) include material published after 2000.

COPAC. A union catalogue providing free access to the merged online catalogues of the largest university research libraries in the UK and Ireland, using records supplied by CURL. Can produce items not included on other bibliographical websites, e.g., catalogues of items bequeathed by a particular person.

NASA (Astrophysics Data System (ADS)). Includes free index to astronomical and geophysical article abstracts; coverage of older material less comprehensive than ARIBIB.

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Corrections

This revision by M.I. Chibnall from an original by P.D. Hingley, with contributions by Ian Howarth, John Lane, Jacqueline Mitton, Margaret Penston, and Ian Ridpath.

The information in this document is believed to be correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change. We welcome corrections or suggestions; please contact the RAS Librarian or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

ADS Abstract Service Provided by the Astrophysics Data System at the CfA; extensive search and download facilities for published material (in geophysics as well as astronomy).

astro-ph The astronomy [pr]e-print service at Los Alamos (Southampton mirror ).

Astronomy in the UK The RAS's full-colour review of British astronomy and space science, available for free download.

Astronomy & Geophysics Journal of the RAS - news, views, and articles on all aspects of astronomy and geophysics

Annual Reviews of Astronomy & Astrophysics On-line access to Annual Reviews of Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions The Journal of the Eurasian Astronomical Society

Astronomical Journal On-line access to Astronomical Journal ( European Mirror)

Astrobiology "Astrobiology brings together research scientists from around the world to advance our understanding of life's origin, evolution, distribution, and destiny in the universe."

Astronomische Nachrichten 'Astronomische Nachrichten – Astronomical Notes' is the oldest astronomical journal still being published.

Astronomy On-line access to Astronomy (popular-level monthly US magazine).

Astronomy & Astrophysics (EDP Sciences) On-line access to Astronomy & Astrophysics. (NOTE: follow link to Springer who published A&A prior to January 2001.)

Astronomy Education Review On-line US magazine for astronomy and space-science education.

Astronomy Now On-line access to Astronomy Now (popular-level monthly UK magazine).

Astrophysical Journal On-line access to Astrophysical Journal ( European Mirror)

Astrophysics & Space Science On-line access to Kluwer's Astrophysics & Space Science abstracts (subscribers only).

Fortean Times "Inclusion here does not constitute any endorsement of the aims or policies of the societies and organizations listed..."

International Journal of Astrobiology "Aims to become a major forum for the study of astrobiology"

Journal of the British Astronomical Association The JBAA contains articles and observing reports of interest to amateur astronomers and others.

Mercury On-line access to the ASP's Mercury Magazine.

Nature On-line access to Nature.

New Astronomy On-line access to New Astronomy (subscribers only)

New Scientist On-line access to New Scientist.

The Observatory The Observatory magazine.

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan PASJ allows substantial on-line access

 Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific On-line access to PASP ( European Mirror)

Science On-line edition of Science magazine

Scientific American On-line edition of Scientific American

Sky & Telescope On-line access to Sky & Telescope (popular monthly US magazine).

The Astronomer (TA) `The Astronomer' magazine publishes up-to-date results of particular interest to active amateur observers.

In astronomy, a 'transit' occurs when a smaller body passes in front of a larger one; and a 'Transit of Venus' happens when Venus is seen in silhouette against the bright face of the Sun.

The 2004 June 8 Transit: When, Where, and How

The Scientific Significance of Transits

Venus Transits of the Past

"... To have seen even a part of a transit of Venus is an event to remember for a lifetime, and we felt more delight than can be easily expressed... Before the phenomenon had ceased, I spared a few minutes from the somewhat mechanical work at the micrometer to take a view of the transit in the more picturesque form which the large field of the finder presents. The sun was already beginning to put on the ruddy hues of sunset, and there, far in on its face, was the sharp, round, black disk of Venus. It was then easy to sympathize with the supreme joy of Horrocks, when, in 1639, he for the first time witnessed this spectacle. The intrinsic interest of the phenomenon, its rarity, the fulfilment of the prediction, the noble problem which the transit of Venus helps us to solve, are all present to our thoughts when we look at this pleasing picture, a repetition of which will not occur again until the flowers are blooming in the June of A.D. 2004."

The 'Black Drop'

Venus: Fast Facts

Namesake: Roman Goddess of Love and Beauty. With few exceptions, features on Venus are named for notable women from all of Earth's cultures.Mean Distance from Sun: 108.2 million km (67.2 million mls)Orbital Period: 224.695 daysRotational Period: 243 days (retrograde)Diameter: 12,100 km (7,520 mls)Mass: 0.82 of EarthDensity: 5.24 g/cc (slightly lower than Earth)Gravity: 0.91 of Earth Atmosphere: 96 per cent carbon dioxideMean Surface Temperature: 457 degrees CNumber of Moons: 0Number of Rings: 0

Exploration of Venus: Significant Dates

1962: Mariner 2 (US) – first successful flyby of Venus; verified high temperatures.1970: Venera 7 (USSR) – first soft-landing on Venus.1972: Venera 8 (USSR) – landed on Venus; transmitted nearly an hour of data.1974: Mariner 10 (US) – flew by Venus en route to Mercury; tracked global atmospheric circulation with visible and ultraviolet imagery. 1975: Venera 9 (USSR) – sent back the first surface pictures of Venus.1978: Pioneer Venus Orbiter (US) – radar mapped Venus; Pioneer Venus Multiprobe (US) dropped four probes through Venusian clouds.1982: Venera 13 and 14 (USSR) – sent back first colour pictures of the surface.1983: Venera 15 and 16 (USSR) – provided high-resolution radar maps and atmospheric analyses.1984: Vega 1 and 2 (USSR) – released landers and balloons at Venus en route to Halley's comet.1990-94: Magellan (US) – mapped 98 per cent of the surface of Venus using radar.2005: Venus Express (ESA) – scheduled to be first European spacecraft to orbit Venus.

Web Links – 2004 Transit

• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEhelp/safety2.html
• http://www.transit-of-venus.org.uk/safety.htm

• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/tran/Transit2004-2a.GIF (hires)
• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/tran/Transit2004-2b.GIF (lores)
• http://www.transit-of-venus.org.uk/transit.htm

• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/tran/Transit2004-1b.GIF
  (It is visible across the UK).

• http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/2004/vt_edu2004_venus_back_his.htm

• University of Central Lancashire
  (The UK Hub for Transit of Venus activities; includes a press pack with images and other information.)
• European Southern Observatory
  (Co-ordinating transit activities across Europe.)
• Orpington Astronomical Society
  (Excellent site for general transit information.)
• The Society for Popular Astronomy
• NASA Sun-Earth Day
• Fred Espenak's Transit of Venus site
  (Definitive source of timings etc.)

By Jonathan Shanklin

Ozone is a compound of oxygen that contains three atoms, instead of the two found in the oxygen gas that sustains life. It was discovered in 1839 by a Swiss chemist, Christian Friedrich Schonbein. In high concentration ozone is a bluish green gas, with very strong oxidising properties. It is a toxic, irritating gas, often encountered in surface air pollution episodes, when it can trigger asthma and irritate mucous membranes. Dry air consists of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen and there are normally trace amounts of other gases, principally argon, water and carbon dioxide, present. The concentration of ozone is usually only a few parts per million and even in the ozone layer it is only one part in 100,000.

Ozone concentrations at the surface were first measured reliably by Robert Strutt (later 4^th Lord Rayleigh) in 1918 using spectra of a hydrogen lamp recorded through five kilometres of air. These measurements showed that ozone concentration could not be uniform throughout the atmosphere as a higher concentration was required to explain the sharp cut off at around 300 nanometres (nm) seen in stellar spectra. Three years later Fabry and Buisson used spectrographic techniques to demonstrate that its principal atmospheric location is in the stratosphere, though it was not until the 1930s that the actual vertical distribution was first measured. It was soon recognised that measuring the variation in the total ozone column was of meteorological interest and Professor G M B Dobson developed a prototype ozone spectrophotometer in the 1920s. His instrument is still the standard today and around 120 Dobson spectrophotometers have been built.

The Sun emits radiation in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, with roughly 7% of its energy output in the ultraviolet between 200 and 400 nm, 41% in the visible between 400 and 760 nm, and 52% in the infra-red. The ultraviolet part of the spectrum is further divided into UV-A, UV-B and UV-C. UV-A lies between 315 and 400 nm and gives rise to a suntan and ageing of the skin. UV-B lies between 280 and 315 nm and is the damaging part of the spectrum. UV-C, which is totally absorbed by the atmosphere before it can reach the ground, lies between 200 and 280 nm.

Dobson's instrument measures ozone by comparing the intensities of two wavelengths of ultraviolet light from the Sun, one of which is absorbed quite strongly by ozone, whilst the other is only weakly absorbed. The ratio of the intensities varies with the amount of ozone present in the atmosphere, and a well-calibrated instrument can measure ozone amounts to within a few per cent. The instrument uses wavelengths between 305 and 340 nm and these are selected by means of prisms and a series of slits. It was initially a photographic instrument, but photocells were introduced in the mid 1930s and a photomultiplier in 1946.

Ozone is created in the upper stratosphere by the photo-dissociation of an oxygen molecule, which liberates a free oxygen atom and this can then combine with another oxygen molecule to create ozone. The dissociation of the oxygen molecule requires ultraviolet light of wavelength shorter than 240 nm. Ozone itself can be dissociated by light of wavelength shorter than 1100 nm. The free oxygen atom thus created quickly finds another oxygen molecule and the ozone is reformed with the net result of absorbing the solar radiation and inputting the energy into the atmosphere as thermal energy. The process is very efficient and virtually all radiation between 200 and 310 nm is absorbed, despite the relatively low concentration of ozone. The main ozone absorption bands in the ultraviolet are the Hartley (around 200–300 nm) and Huggins (around 300–350 nm), and there is the weak Chappuis band in the visible (440–740 nm). In the lower stratosphere, below about 30 km, ozone has a long lifetime, and the ozone mixing ratio can be used to trace atmospheric motions.

In the normal state of affairs the creation and dissociation processes run in balance and a typical value for the total amount of ozone in a vertical column of our atmosphere is around 300 Dobson Units (DU), or 300 milli-atmosphere-centimetres, which corresponds to a layer of ozone 3 mm thick at the Earth's surface. This 3 mm is in reality spread through the column, with the bulk of it lying between the tropopause, at 10 to 12 km altitude, and 40 km, with a maximum at around 17 to 25 km altitude depending on location. This is the ozone layer.

Over the last 50 years mankind has introduced chemicals into the atmosphere that are capable of destroying ozone through photochemical processes. Chloro-fluoro-carbons (CFCs) are widely known, but there are also other ozone depleting substances such as halons (bromo-fluoro-carbons) and methyl bromide. In certain circumstances the chlorine or bromine from these substances can react with ozone to turn it back into oxygen. In most parts of the world the reactions are very slow and there is little damage to the ozone layer, however over the Antarctic a dramatic hole opens in the ozone layer every spring and fills in again by mid-summer. This is created by the unusual atmospheric conditions that exist during the Antarctic winter.

An international treaty, the Montreal Protocol, has been drawn up to control the release of ozone depleting chemicals into the atmosphere. This treaty is clearly working, and the amount of these chemicals in air near the surface is beginning to decline. The chemicals are however so stable that it will take a long time before they drop to the levels that existed 50 years ago and it is likely that we will see an annual ozone hole over Antarctica for many decades to come.

Frequently asked questions:

• Why does the ozone hole form over Antarctica ?
  The answer is essentially 'because of the weather in the ozone layer'. In order for rapid ozone destruction to happen, clouds (known as PSCs, Stratospheric Clouds, Mother of Pearl, or Nacreous Clouds) have to form in the ozone layer. In these clouds surface chemistry takes place. This converts chlorine or bromine (from CFCs and other ozone depleting chemicals) into an active form, so that when there is sunlight, ozone is rapidly destroyed. Without the clouds, there is little or no ozone destruction. Only during the Antarctic winter does the atmosphere get cold enough for these clouds to form widely through the centre of the ozone layer. Elsewhere the atmosphere is just too warm and no clouds form. The northern and southern hemispheres have different 'weather' in the ozone layer, and the net result is that the temperature of the Arctic ozone layer during winter is normally some ten degrees warmer than that of the Antarctic. This means that such clouds are rare, but sometimes the 'weather' is colder than normal and they do form. Under these circumstances significant ozone depletion can take place over the Arctic, but it is usually for a much shorter period of time and covers a smaller area than in the Antarctic.
   
• Is the ozone hole recovering ?
  Some reports in the media suggest that the ozone layer over Antarctica is now recovering. This message is a little confused. Recent measurements at surface monitoring stations show that the loading of ozone destroying chemicals at the surface has been dropping since about 1994 and is now about 6% down on that peak. The stratosphere lags behind the surface by several years and the loading of ozone depleting chemicals in the ozone layer is at or near the peak. Satellite measurements show that the rate of decline in ozone amount in the upper stratosphere is slowing, however the total ozone amount is still declining. The small size of the 2002 ozone hole was nothing to do with any reduction in ozone depleting chemicals and it will be a decade or more before we can unambiguously say that the ozone hole is recovering. This assumes that the decline in ozone depleting chemicals continues and that there are no other perturbations to the ozone layer, such as might be caused by a massive volcanic eruption or Tunguska like event. It will be the middle of this century or beyond before the ozone hole ceases to appear over Antarctica. What we saw in 2002 is just one extreme in the natural range of variation in the polar stratosphere and is the equivalent of an extreme in 'stratospheric weather'. By contrast the 'weather' in 2003 moved to the opposite extreme and we saw one of the largest ozone holes on record.
   
• Global warming and the ozone hole.
  The ozone hole is a completely different phenomenon to global warming; however, there are links between them. The ozone hole is caused by ozone depleting chemicals in the atmosphere, which have been produced by industry, for example CFCs. One link is that CFCs are also 'greenhouse gasses'. Enhanced global warming is a probable consequence of increasing amounts of 'greenhouse gases', such as carbon dioxide and methane, in the atmosphere. Although the surface of the earth warms, higher up the atmosphere cools, thus increasing the area where stratospheric clouds can form. This makes a larger area susceptible to ozone depletion and provides another link between the two issues.
   
• What about nacreous, or mother of pearl, clouds.
  Occasionally stratospheric clouds can be seen from the UK, normally during the late winter and just after sunset or before sunrise. A display was widely seen across the UK on the evening of February 16 1996. These clouds form in the stratosphere, at heights of between 10 and 30 km, when the temperature there falls below -80C and are probably composed of ice particles with a liquid coating of nitric acid tri-hydrate. They appear bright because they are high enough to be illuminated by the sun long after local sunset and the pastel colours arise through diffraction or interference effects in much the same way that colours appear in a film of oil on a puddle of water. Occasionally seen from Scotland during the winter months, they are a once in a lifetime sighting from southern England. They are more frequently seen from the southern hemisphere, particularly from locations along the Antarctic Peninsula where the mountains create lee-waves in the upper atmosphere.
   

Selected web sites with background and related material

• British Antarctic Survey ozone page
• UK ozone information from the Met Office.
• The CAS Ozone Hole Tour at the Centre for Atmospheric Science (chemistry department) in the University of Cambridge
• Canadian Met Service ozone information (includes graphs and forecasts)
• NOAA Climate Prediction Center polar ozone page
• World Meteorological Organisation ozone page

By Helen Walker

Many scientists were drawn to their careers by the excitement of observing the night sky, either the wonder of the thousands of faint stars in the Milky Way or phenomena such as comets and meteors, planets, aurorae, and these are now lost to the young due to light pollution. The Astronomer Royal, Professor Sir Martin Rees, has said "we may not all be ornithologists but we would miss the song birds in our gardens".

What is light pollution?

Most of us have experienced light pollution in one way or another, either a neighbour's intrusive security light, glare from the lights in a car park, or perhaps that wonderful surprise of looking up at the night sky from a remote beach or hillside on holiday and seeing the Milky Way (possibly for the first time in years).

There are several aspects to light pollution:

• Light trespass: Light that shines from one property into another where it is not wanted.
• Glare: Light that shines into the eye, preventing a person from seeing the illuminated scene properly.
• Confusion: Too many bright lights (also flashing lights) competing for attention.
• Light waste: Lights left on (all night), too bright light for the task in hand.
• Sky glow: The bright sky over our town and cities, caused by light shining up and not down.

What has been the impact on UK astronomy?

For many years, astronomers have been very concerned about the impact of increasing light pollution on the study of astronomy, the observation of astronomical phenomena by professional scientists and amateurs, and the loss of the night sky as a trigger for scientific interest in young people. Many people and local astronomical societies have their own telescopes. There are around 100 universities in the UK, and about half of them offer significant modules in astronomy at undergraduate level. Around 25 universities carry out significant astronomical research (i.e. have grants from PPARC). The Society surveyed its own points of contact and found that there are around 33 observatories attached to universities, ranging from small roof top telescopes for undergraduate viewing up to telescopes at the 1 metre size used for some research. The compromising of these facilities in the UK means that students find it hard to get the appropriate training in the observational techniques of astronomy, and instruments have to be taken abroad for testing (which is expensive). It is not possible to take students to Hawaii to teach them how to use a telescope.

The Society for Popular Astronomy queried its members and found (from more than 800 returned questionnaires) that nearly 80% of them cannot see, or can only barely see, the Milky Way, and well over half of them have to travel between 5 and 50 miles to find acceptable viewing conditions (one in eight people had to travel more than 50 miles).

Is it just visible light that pollutes?

The UK needs to be vigilant about the associated issues of radio frequency interference and pollution which could curtail the work of the Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank, the MERLIN radio telescope network in the UK, and the UK radio telescopes' work internationally (for example, as part of the Very Long Baseline Interferometer network).

Is this just a UK or European problem?

Optical astronomy has already suffered from space-based pollution, caused by the Iridium satellites and by space debris, just as radio astronomy has been inhibited by the Russian GLONASS satellites, which transmit sideband interference. The RAS formally protested to the Director General Space Regatta Consortium about the Znamya-2.5 space mirror experiment in 1998. The International Astronomical Union has passed resolutions at eight general assemblies on the issue of light pollution and related matters and in 1999 the International Astronomical Union and the United Nations Special Environment Symposium 'Preserving the Astronomical Sky' made several recommendations to Member States.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has expressed concern about:

• future space projects seriously interfering with astronomical observations in the optical and radio domain,
• protection of astronomically important radio frequencies,
• vapour trails from aircraft affecting astronomical observations,
• satellite-borne reflector and solar-reflector systems,
• the contamination of space (with debris),
• the protection of observing conditions at the remaining excellent sites on this planet, and requests authorities to ensure the night sky receive no less protection than has been given to the world heritage sites on Earth.

Other countries have produced guidance and legislation for the control of light pollution including Calgary, Lombardy, Canary Islands, Catalonia, Czech Republic, parts of Japan, several states in the USA.

What can the Authorities and Government do?

Paul Murdin (in the Observatory Magazine, volume 117, page 34) proposed a scheme to classify sites where astronomical observing takes place (ALCORs), so that local authorities would be aware of them, and their significance. They are adapted for astronomy from a zoning system produced for the Institution of Lighting Engineers (by Nigel Pollard), based on environmental considerations. The proposal is that the defence against light pollution would be drawn up for each ALCOR, to progressively more stringent standards.

• ALCOR 0: No astronomical activity is practical from such a region. Examples: urban entertainment areas, motorways, industrial zones.
• ALCOR 1: Casual sky viewing of planets and constellations is possible, including from public (city-centre) observatories, schools and colleges (with telescopes around 30 cm in diameter). Examples: suburban, residential districts in general, recreational (park) areas.
• ALCOR 2: Special types of observing (avoiding light pollution) such as infrared observations, high-resolution spectroscopy of bright stars, and other observations are undertaken by undergraduates or 'expert' amateur astronomers at university or 'museum' equivalent sites (with telescopes around 50 cm to 1 metre). Examples: particular places in urban, suburban, town locations.
• ALCOR 3: Photometry and intermediate-resolution spectroscopy, could be undertaken by professional or 'expert' amateur astronomers to a high standard (with telescopes around 50 cm to 1 metre). Examples: selected near-rural or rural locations.
• ALCOR 4: Narrow-band imaging, imaging in general, low-resolution spectroscopy, could be undertaken by professional astronomers for wide-ranging programmes to the highest professional standards. Examples: national parks, remote, selected rural locations, probably the darkest sites in the UK.
• ALCOR 5: Wide-field imaging, low-resolution spectroscopy of faint sources, professional work from a site with rare quality. Examples: very remote locations, of which there are very few in the world (this region is above the ILE system to protect natural habitats, and it is unlikely that there would be any regions designated as ALCOR 5 in the UK).

After extensive lobbying by the BAA-inspired Campaign for Dark Skies, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee announced an inquiry into light pollution and UK astronomy in February 2003. The report available on-line.

The Committee completely accepted the RAS's evidence on the significance of astronomy in the UK, both as first rate international research and as an inspiring cultural/educational activity to encourage students into science. It recommended that the Government should afford special protection to observatories, and local authorities be obliged to consult on planning applications in the vicinity of observatories. It suggested that PPARC should take a more active interest in light pollution issues than it has hitherto. It recommended that "the Government should create a new Planning Policy Guidance on light pollution as soon as possible and ensure that all local authorities are made aware of their obligation to include lighting in their local development plans". They proposed that light could be made a 'statutory nuisance', like noise, fumes, smell, animals, and Environmental Health Officers exercise the same powers of judgement as they already do for smells. The Committee identified radio spectrum pollution as a matter of interest, although outside the scope of its present inquiry.

The report concluded that "the astronomical community in this country is a particularly strong one and it should be encouraged by the Government. Amateur astronomers not only support major professional projects through day to day observations, but also donate much of their time to introducing the general public and young people to the night sky, astronomy and through that initial interest, very often into a physics career".

Web sites for further information:

• House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report
• Armagh Observatory light pollution information
• Campaign for Dark Skies
• International Dark-Sky Association
• Institution of Lighting Engineers:
• Government crime reduction home-security lighting information

By Alan Fitzsimmons

The majority of asteroids and comets orbit the Sun at distances far from the Earth. However, a small fraction of them, the so-called Near-Earth Objects (usually abbreviated as NEOs), have orbits that can bring them closer to the Sun than the planet Mars, and approach the Earth. Their sizes range from 30km for the largest object (Eros) down to roughly 5m. Astronomers are interested in NEOs for two reasons. First, as they come close to the Earth, they are easier to study than other comets or asteroids. Secondly, NEOs can occasionally collide with the Earth, with the effect being dependent on the size.

The smallest NEOs will burn up and/or fragment at high altitudes in the Earth's atmosphere, as a fireball. Indeed, many of these events are seen each year by amateur astronomers and by satellites. Larger NEOs (between roughly 50m and 200m across) can survive down to the lower atmosphere, where their disruption can cause significant ground damage, over hundreds or even thousands of square kilometres. The last confirmed event like this occurred on 1908 June 30th over Tunguska, in Siberia. Even larger NEOs will generally impact the Earth itself, and cause a large explosion. It is now widely believed that the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was associated with a 10km-wide NEO impacting in the Gulf of Mexico, causing tidal waves, firestorms and global climate change.

Tunguska-sized objects enter the Earth's atmosphere once every few hundred years. 1-km NEOs only hit the Earth every 500,000 years or so. However, NEOs arrive randomly (a bit like buses!), so the only way to be sure that we are not going to be hit is by finding them and calculating their orbits, thereby determining that none are coming our way.

There are several search programmes operating to find NEOs, primarily in the United States of America. Over 2,500 NEOs have been discovered, and a further 400 or so new NEOs are found every year. Once discovered, these NEOs are tracked by professional and amateur astronomers around the world. Teams of astronomers in America and Europe then calculate their orbits and assess if there is any risk of an impact in the foreseeable future.

Frequently asked questions:

• How many NEOs are there?
  Scientists estimate that there are around 900 NEOs 1km across or bigger, and over 100,000 down to a size of 70m diameter.
   
• I have heard that there is an asteroid on a collision course with the Earth. Is this true, and when will it hit?
  None of the NEOs so far discovered will hit the Earth in the next 100 years. The most likely impact will be from the NEO called 1950 DA, but even if it happens it won't be until 2880 March 16.
   
• Will we be told if there is a NEO on a collision course?
  Astronomers decided long ago to be completely open about this matter. All known impact risks are updated daily on publicly accessible web sites. If we ever do find an asteroid with a good chance of hitting us, everyone will be able to find out at the same time.
   
• If an asteroid just misses us, wouldn't it cause huge storms and tidal waves?
  No. Any asteroid is so much smaller than the Earth that even if it missed by just 100km it would have no effect.

Web sites for further NEO information:

• UK NEO Information Centre
• Spaceguard UK
• NASA NEO Programme Office

By Barrie Jones

Astrobiology (also called exobiology) comprises the search for life beyond the Earth and the study of any such life that might be found. The search extends throughout the Solar System, particularly the planet Mars, which could well have developed life in its warmer and wetter early history, and Europa - one of the large satellites of Jupiter, which probably has an ocean under its icy carapace maintained by tidal heating from Jupiter. Saturn's large satellite Titan has a thick atmosphere that might resemble that of the Earth at about the time life was emerging here.

The search also extends beyond the Solar System. We have already discovered giant planets around over 100 stars, and as soon as planets of about the mass of the Earth are found in the habitable zones of their stars they will be investigated to see if they are potential or actual habitats. Space telescopes proposed for launch around 2015 would make such investigations, in particular the European Space Agency's Darwin and NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder.

It is believed that the most likely form of extraterrestrial life will have the same broad basis as life on Earth - complex carbon compounds and liquid water. Consequently astrobiology includes the study of life on Earth, particularly its origin and the wide range of habitats that it occupies, including 'extremophiles' that can live at temperatures over 100C and in other extreme conditions. This ensures that we are not overly narrow in our search for life elsewhere.

Astrobiology is a rapidly growing, interdisciplinary area that is already one of the most exciting areas in science, and promises to remain so throughout this century.

A possible configuration of the Darwin infrared telescope. Each aperture is a few metres across and they are spaced by a few tens of metres (courtesy Alcatel)	A notional hydrobot, searching a Europan ocean for an acquatic biosphere (courtesy JPL/Caltech/NASA)

Frequently asked questions:

• What are the chances of finding extraterrestrial life?
  Most scientists regard it as beyond reasonable doubt that there is life elsewhere in our Galaxy of about 200,000 million stars, and in the billions of galaxies beyond our own. It is also conceivable that there was once life on Mars and might still be beneath its surface. Europa could still have an acquatic biosphere. Quite how far any such life has advanced is a more tricky question. Life on Earth started as single cells, such as bacteria, and for most of Earth history remained single-celled. It is possible that evolution to plants and animals is rare, leaving the Earth alone in the galaxy as an abode of complex creatures, including intelligent creatures.

For further information:

• Life in the Solar System and Beyond (Barrie W Jones, Springer-Praxis, 2004)
• http://www.astrobiology.com
• http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov
• http://www.astrobio.net
• http://www.astrobiologysociety.org

By Jacqueline Mitton, Ian Howarth & Jonathan Shanklin

• Libraries, Museums and other Astronomical Organizations
• Commercial Picture Libraries
• Retailers
• Sources of Films, Videos, etc
• Geophysical Material
• North American Sources
• NASA websites
• Russian material
• Posters (Earth from Space, etc.)
• Download this document

The following is a selection of providers of photos and other material, mainly UK-based. Other useful sources of information include PPARC's resource guide, and the Federation of Astronomical Societies Handbook, published annually. (Available from the FAS Publications Secretary, Malcolm Jones, The Willows, Hawkes Lane, Bracon Ash, Norwich NR14 8EW, Tel: 01508-578392; Fax: 01508-570986; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
If you are simply looking for collections of spectacular astronomical images on the Web, go to our astrolinks image listing.

The Royal Astronomical Society holds a large collection of negatives and prints from which copies can be made to order at the normal rates for photographic work. For specialised purposes, such as publication in books and journals, photographs are also frequently supplied from material in the RAS Library and Archives, subject to the constraints of condition, copyright, etc.; see the separate information sheet Notes for Picture Researchers for the costs, reproduction fees and other conditions of this service. The RAS currently has for sale a set of five colour posters of nebulae, and a CD of organ works by William Herschel. for the costs, reproduction fees and other conditions of this service. The RAS currently has a set of five colour posters of nebulae, and a CD of organ works by William Herschel. for the costs, reproduction fees and other conditions of this service. The RAS currently has a set of five colour posters of nebulae, and a CD of organ works by William Herschel. An additional source of photographic material available from the RAS Library Photographic Archive is via the Science Photo Libary - See below

Armagh Planetarium, College Hill, Armagh, Northern Ireland, BT61 9DB.
Tel 028-3752-4725; Fax: 028-3752-6187; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Sets of slides on astronomy and spaceflight subjects, videos, posters and postcards, charts, globes, gifts, T-shirts. Sources include NASA, the Anglo-Australian Telescope, and the UK Schmidt Telescope.

Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Broad Street, Oxford, OX1 3BG.
Tel 01865 277214/277153; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Filmstrips and 35mm mounted colour slides comprising ancient illustrations covering astronomy, astrology, instruments, constellations, etc., eleventh to sixteenth centuries, various countries of origin, from manuscripts and early printed books in the Dept. of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts. Transparencies, prints, microfilms, digital images available to order. An iconographic index to the mediaeval MS illumination producing these images is available for consultation, Most of these are available for purchase to personal customers, or by mail order, at the Bodleian Library Shop.
 
Federation of Astronomical Societies. Contact The Slide Librarian, Alan Drummond, 27 York Road, Crawley, West Sussex BN44 3LR.
Tel: 01293-535027.
103 slides, taken by amateur astronomers. These have the great advantage of showing what can actually be seen or photographed with amateur equipment. Some of these are available as a set of 31, with teacher's notes, for school astronomy projects or adult education classes.

National Maritime Museum (Picture Library; Picture Gallery), Greenwich, London SE10 9NF,
Tel 020 8312 6631/6704 (Picture Library), 020 8312 6600 (Picture Gallery); Fax: 020-8312 6533/6599; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The NMM administers the nearby Royal Observatory Greenwich, and includes one of the world's most comprehensive collections of astronomical and navigational instruments. The collection includes oil paintings, prints, drawings, and historic photographs. The Picture Library serves 'made-to-order' enquiries. Images can be purchased and prints or transparencies hired for reproduction purposes; charges comparable with a commercial picture library are made. The Picture Gallery sells 'off-the-peg' prints of items in the collection.
Natural History Museum Picture Library, Cromwell Rd., South Kensington, London SW7 5BD.
Tel: 020 7942 5401/5324; Fax: 020 7942 5443; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Small reference collection of NASA transparencies of the planets, may be available for loan to publishers, etc.

UK Astronomy Technology Centre Photolabs, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ.
Tel 0131-668-8100; FAX 0131 662 1668 OR 0131-668-8264; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
High quality astronomical images principally from the UK Schmidt Telescope Unit in Australia, for research, scientific, teaching, p/r, media and illustrative purposes. Collection included sites, telescopes and equipment plus ROE/AATB (David Malin) shared copyright images, plus historic photos of the ROE and images from its archives and early astronomical books. Some of the most popular images have been made available through the Science Photo Library (q.v.) who market reproduction rights and to whom the initial application should be made for images required for publication.

Science & Society Picture Library, has, since 1998, represented the collections of the National Museum of Science and Industry, comprising the Science Museum, the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, and the National Railway Museum. It can be contacted at
The Science Museum,
Exhibition Road,
London SW7 2DD;
Tel: 020-7942 4400; Fax: 020 7942 4401: Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Prints can be purchased, or transparencies, prints and digital images loaned for reproduction;substantial charges are made.

The following are commercial picture libraries supplying material for publication, broadcasting, etc. Charges are made for access and for supply of material.

Galaxy Picture Library. Contact Robin Scagell, 34 Fennels Way, Flackwell Heath, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HB10 9BY
Tel 01628 521338; Fax 01628 520132; Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Astronomical photographs, astronomers, observatories, plus NASA space images. Night sky views and montaged composite images provided to customer's requirements.

Hulton|Archive, Unique House, 21-31 Woodfield Road, London W9 2BA.
Tel: 020 7266 2662 (Sales), 020 7579 5777 (Research); Fax: 020 7266 3154, 020 7266 2414; E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (Research), This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (Sales).
Includes the former Space Frontiers picture library on spaceflight, space applications and astronomy

Mary Evans Picture Library, 59 Tranquil Vale, Blackheath, London SE3 0BS.
Tel: 020 8318 0034; Fax: 020 8852 7211.
General historical picture library including some material on the history of astronomy. Also good for depictions of futuristic Space Travel, Aliens etc., which accompanied stories such as those of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

Science Photo Library, 327-329 Harrow Road, London W9 3RB.
Tel: 020 7432 1100; Fax: 020 7286 8668.
Commercial photo agency with large collection on all aspects of astronomy and space, as well as other fields of science, technology, and medicine. By arrangement they hold images from the RAS Library Photographic Archive made available for the public.

Sources of Films, Videos, etc

Some of the sources listed above, and particularly the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum, include material on planetary science, and the distinction between this and geophysics can be somewhat blurred. The Royal Astronomical Society's library includes a number of early books covering the subjects that eventually became part of geophysics.

The British Geological Survey, part of the National Environment Research Council, has a photograph collection and archive covering most aspects of Geophysics with special strength in seismology, and maintains the National Archive of Geological Photographs image database; photographs include geophysical instruments and scientists using them, maps and illustrations of the results obtained, and the dramatic effects of phenomena such as Earthquakes. A wide range of photographic and digital products can be purchased for private use or, subject to permission, for publication. The Survey has two main offices and in each case enquiries should be directed to the Chief Photographer.
Shops situated in the main BGS offices carry a wide range of items including rock, fossil and mineral specimens, geological ornaments, natural jewellery, postcards, posters and educational toys and games:
BGS, Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG. Tel: 0115 936 3360 (Chief Photographer), 0115-936-3241 (shop). BGS, Murchison House, West Mains Rd., Edinburgh EH9 3LA. Tel: 0131 667 1000 (Chief Photographer), 0131-667-1000 (shop). BGS London Information Office, Natural History Museum (Earth Galleries), Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DE. Shop only, Tel: 020-7589-4090.

The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an American source of similar material (see below).

The following US-based organizations offer very extensive ranges of astronomical merchandise and publications in Astronomy; please remember, first, that North American videos need to be specifically ordered for the PAL system (rather than the native NVTSC), unless you have a modern multi standard player; and secondly, that import duty may be payable on items other than books, and although the duty itself may be quite modest the Customs and GPO charges for clearance and collection of the money can inflate this to an alarming degree. There are also a number of websites associated with NASA (q.v.) and the Hubble Space Telescope (see our astrolinks image listing).

Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94112, USA.Tel: 001 415 337 1100; Fax: 001 415 337 5205; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
has a catalogue stuffed with books, slides, videos, models, posters, educational aids, computer programmes, etc.


National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) can supply a wide range of material including CD-ROMs, posters and slide sets with images in its subject area. They have a very extensive Web site.
NOAA/NGDC Mail Code E/GC, 325 Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80305-3328, USA.
Tel: 001 303 497 6826; Fax: 001 303 497 6513; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Sky Publishing Corporation, 49 Bay State Road, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Tel: 001 617 864 7360; Fax: 001 617 864 6117; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Publishers of the foremost popular astronomy magazine, Sky and Telescope, who offer another elaborate catalogue with more emphasis on books but also including globes, videos, slides, and computer software .

NASA does not currently make copies of images directly available to the general public, but images may be downloaded from its websites. Many of these offer multiple formats for the images, including high-resolution versions suitable for printing. Publication-standard copies of NASA images may also be obtained by media representatives or NASA research partners by contacting the Public Affairs Office of the responsible NASA Center; they may also be purchased from certain commercial sources – those in the UK include the Science Photo Library (q.v.) and the Hulton|Archive (q.v.). 'Off-the-peg' NASA images and products are usually available from local science centres and planetaria.

NASA Multimedia Gallery. Portal for NASA's photo, video, audio and arts galleries of NASA audio-visual products, including the NASA Image eXchange. It is not a unified searchable data base. NASA Image eXchange (NIX) is the first step towards a comprehensive online collection of NASA images, and comprises a web-based search engine for simultaneously searching one or more of NASA's online image and photo collections; additional collections are gradually being added to the scheme. NASA's Planetary Photojournal, hosted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is the website for the Planetary Image Archive (PIA) of planets, satellites, and minor planets. All these have images which may be downloaded from their websites in high-resolution versions suitable for printing.


Sources potentially useful for material on collaborations between Russia and the USA include the Science Photo Library (q.v.) and the Hulton|Archive (q.v.), whose stock includes NASA pictures. Material from the USSR period can also be ordered from the Russian Information Agency–Novosti (Russian HQ only), whose London office retains an archive of photographs from the Soviet/Russian space programme:

Russian Information Agency–Novosti (RIA-Novosti), London Office, 3 Rosary Gardens, London SW7 4NW; Tel: 020-7370-1873 (photo library); Fax: 020-7244-7875; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . If you are interested in possessing samples of Russian space food, Shuttle tiles, or figurines of astronauts, not forgetting such routine items as postcards and stickers, see the lists of the Agency for the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, Moscow; contact Nick Steggall, FRAS FBIS, Bird in Hand, Salters Lane, Trimdon Village, County Durham TS29 6JQ; Tel: 01429 880391; Fax: 01429 882010; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Map Marketing Ltd, 92-104 Carnwath Road, London SW6 3HW.
Tel 08075-862-013; Fax: 020 7371 0473; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Supply a range of posters in various formats based on satellite imagery, offering images of the whole earth, Europe, Britain, and various more detailed areas. Images are also available as jigsaw puzzles.

This revision by M.I. Chibnall from an original by P.D. Hingley, with contributions by I. Howarth, J. Lane, J, Mitton, and M. Penston. The information in this document is given in good faith, but any mention of commercial enterprises should not be taken as an endorsement by the RAS or its staff. Information is believed to be correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change. We welcome corrections or suggestions; please contact the RAS Librarian or webmaster.

Posters of Earth from Space, etc: Russian material, NASA websites, North American Sources, Geophysical Material, Retailers, Commercial Picture Libraries, Libraries, Museums and other Astronomical Organizations. British Universities Film and Video Council, 77 Wells Street, London W1T 3QJ. Tel: 020 7393 1500; Fax: 020 7393 1555. BUFVC maintain the Researcher's Guide Online (RGO) database (Tel: 020 7393 1506; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), covering film, TV, radio and related documentation collections in the UK, and the HERMES database (Tel: 020 7393 1506; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), covering titles of AV programmes produced by UK higher education institutions, programmes from a wide range of additional sources, plus the catalogues of distributors of AV programmes. This includes films, videos, DVDs, slides and tape-slide packages; . BUFVC also sell videotapes, CD-ROMs and videodiscs; (Tel: 020 7393 1503; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
The BUFVC maintain the 'Moving Image Gateway' portal to websites relating to moving images and sound, and their use for UK higher and further education.

The following table lists journals, periodicals, circulars etc. which are currently taken by the RAS Library (as at November 2003).

The object of this note is to set out RAS policy on the supply of pictures, especially for commercial reproduction; to give picture researchers guidance on what they can and cannot expect from the Library; to set out the conditions on which they are supplied; and to give an idea of the costs involved.

Library

NO REQUESTS can be accepted for photographs for delivery in less than two weeks, and delivery time cannot be guaranteed as it is affected by other demands on the Library and the photographers used. Photographs will not, of course , be deliberately delayed but will be sent as soon as ready.

The Society may refuse to supply photographs for reproduction in books or articles whose subjects are felt to be unsuitable.

The RAS Library CAN provide... (2) A reasonably complete collection of modern books in its subjects of Astronomy, Geophysics, and their histories, ranging from the popular to the scholarly, arranged in a classification to suit those with at least a modicum of knowledge on the subject. Although a privately maintained Library, access may be allowed at the Librarian's discretion to those with a real need for its services. If guidance is needed as to the meaning or choice of photographs it should be sought from the author of the book or article being illustrated. An enquirer who knows WHY a particular image is needed is more likely to get a useful result.

Many of the significant books in the subjects dating back to the 15th Century and later. Many contain engravings or other illustrations of great beauty and historical interest, mostly in line but some coloured. The easiest way to approach this material is to search modern books on relevant aspects of the subject and to identify the images required which can then be traced in the original (if it is in the Library), photography from which usually produces a more satisfactory result. In the case of older material it also removes copyright problems. Examples might be the spectacular charts of the Heavens, charts of particular constellations (with or without monsters), older cosmologies (or 'world systems'), portraits of historical astronomers and geophysicists, and views of historic instruments and phenomena.

A file is maintained of copy negatives made for previous requests and it may be possible to identify suitable images by looking through this.

Photographs can be supplied from most books as long as they will not be damaged by the process and subject to the copyright regulations - see (3) below.

A number of older black and white pictures still in stock from the former sale collection, mainly celestial objects but also a few telescopes. Numbered in the RAS and PAL series. The glass copy negatives of these are mostly still held so if there is a real need to use a particular image, prints can be produced but this is a considerably slower process than the normal copy photographs.

Access to well illustrated modern works from which suitable illustrations can be identified, and either traced to the original and copies obtained or copied from the book subject to permission from the copyright holder.

A fair number of portraits of astronomers and geophysicists, mostly dating between 1820 and 1950, with numerous earlier, but very few later and very few modern scientists from overseas. A card index is maintained of most of the Society's portraits, not yet fully comprehensive. A separate information sheet is available, 'Sources of Portrait and Biographical Information on Astronomers and Geophysicists' , giving guidance as to portrait sources in the RAS Library and elsewhere.

Many photographs of telescopes, modern and historical. These are mainly in black and white; a card index is available covering the Society's major holdings.

The Library CANNOT provide...

• Any colour material of celestial objects for reproduction.
• Any film or video material
• Photographs of 'The Sky' - but see above for the older charts
• Any Space photographs.

   

(3) Where a new negative is produced specially it and the copyright in the copy photographs are retained by the Society. The cost of all photographic work is charged to the user. Photographs are supplied on a 'research and private study' basis unless explicitly for reproduction. The user must apply separately for permission to reproduce in this case.

The onus is on the requester to ensure that they have permission from any copyright holder(s) to reproduce the pictures. Copyright in published works has now been extended to 75 years under EU regulations. Unpublished writings, works of art and photographs are copyright indefinitely . Copyright in archival material is not necessarily held by the Society. Where copy photographs are requested from modern books, journal articles and the like, the Librarian will require written proof of permission being given (a facsimile message is acceptable) before releasing photographs, although photography may be put in hand before this permission is received - but if it were refused the requested would still be held liable for the cost of the photography. Exceptions to these rules are NASA and Hubble Space Telescope images which are 'in the public domain' .

Ektachromes ( 5 x 4 inch colour transparencies) are held in stock of some portraits and other frequently requested colour material; these will be hired to the user. This is the preferred format for most printers for colour reproduction. Illustrations from material supplied by the Library which is not otherwise copyright MUST carry the credit line 'Royal Astronomical Society'.

As costs vary from job to job, payment is not usually required in advance, though it may be specified in particular cases or for very large orders. A written ( or FAXed ) order is required and the cost of the photography and postage will be invoiced later.

For the convenience of overseas users, on previous occasions material has been sent on the requester's account with 'Federal Express' or similar services. Unfortunately, it has been found that this involves an inordinate amount of extra administrative work and can actually delay the shipment, so regretfully this is not now done in. Material can however be sent 'datapost' or 'swiftair' and charged accordingly.

Costs and Reproduction Fees

A reproduction fee will be charged for material from the Library and Archives which is not otherwise copyright. This represents a contribution to the staff cost of supplying the service and does not imply that the Society is claiming copyright on the material. The fee may be waived for non-commercial and scholarly publication. Publishers who feel that their book falls into this category are invited to write making a case for exemption. — P. D. Hingley (Librarian)

The information in this document is given in good faith, and is believed to be correct at the time of publication, but is subject to change. We welcome corrections or suggestions; please contact the RAS Librarian or webmaster.