News and Literature Services

Calendars

RAIUB Colloquium Schedule

The »Radioastronomisches Institut der Univerität Bonn provides a »colloquium schedule, which also contains dates of non-astronomical events at the university. Previous talks you find in the »archive. You may also add new dates and do a lot of other things via the »administration interface (just click "OK").

MPIfR Colloquium Schedule

There is also a »colloquium schedule available from MPIfR.

Astronomical Meetings

The »Canadian Astronomical Data Centre hosts an »International Astronomy Meetings List.

Holidays in Germany

Via »Feiertage.net you can get lists of holidays, especially for Nordrhein-Westfalen.

World Time

A »table with local time at places of astronomical interest (created via timeanddate.com) may help you to communicate with collaborators or to submit your proposal not too early...

Literature Servers

The »library links many more services as discussed here.

MPIfR Preprint List

The »MPIfR Preprint List gives links to MPIfR publications hosted elsewhere. The list is maintained by »Bill Sherwood

The NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

»ADS' most prominent service is the »Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstract Service. Relatively unknown is the »List of Unread Journals, which lists articles so far not read by the user. This list can be restricted to journals of interest to the user.

astro-ph

astro-ph is THE preprint server in astronomy and part of the »arXiv.org e-Print Archive. There you find a »list of new postings, a »search interface too look e.g. for a special author, and an »interface to retreive preprints with known identifiers.

Ovid

The »Ovid Online Database Server (no identification required from within MPIfR) allows a very general literature search.

Newsletters

Star-Formation Newsletter

The Star-Formation Newsletter is published in a private effort once per month via email and the internet and primarily collects abstracts of recently published or accepted papers in the field of star-formation research. Visit the »list of issues to get the newsletter and read the editorial of the »first issue for a more detailed description.

News Services

In this section we collect regularly updated, partially more public oriented internet news services.

The Cosmic Mirror

The »Cosmic Mirror is a non-commercial astronomical newsletter updated every few days. It reports on a very high scientific level and can be considered a must-read for every scientist aiming at a broader overview in astronomy. You may especially want to read the »current issue.

What's New

»What's New looks behind the scene of science with a nice sense of humor and is published every friday. It is hosted by the »American Physical Society.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Every day a nice astronomical picture is published together with a small explanation. Check out the »current issue, the »archive and the »index.

astronews.com

astronews.com berichtet tagesaktuell über die wesentlichen Ereignisse aus Astronomie und Raumfahrt, sowie neue Forschungsergebnisse. Aktuelle Meldungen findet man auf der »Homepage. Interessant ist auch die »Übersicht über Raketenstarts.

Telepolis Weltraum

Telepolis Weltraum berichtet tagesaktuell über besondere Ereignisse aus Astronomie und Raumfahrt, konzentriert sich aber auf längere Artikel zu Fragen aus der Forschung. Über die »Homepage hat man zugriff auf eine sehr lange Liste von Artikeln.

Spiegel Online - Weltraum

Die Rubrik »Weltraum des Nachrichtenmagazins »Der Spiegel greift Ereignisse aus Astronomie und Raumfahrt und Fragen aus der Forschung auf.

Astronomical Tools

Databases

Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS)

»CDS hosts especially a huge number of object catalogues. Interface to these catalogues is provided by »SIMBAD, which provides basic data, cross-identifications and bibliography for astronomical objects outside the solar system, »VizieR, which provides access to the most complete library of published astronomical catalogues and data tables available on line, and »Aladin, which is an interactive software sky atlas allowing the user to visualize digitized images of any part of the sky, to superimpose entries from astronomical catalogs or personal user data files, and to interactively access related data and information from the SIMBAD, NED, VizieR, or other archives for all known objects in the field.

Leiden Atomic and Molecular Database (LAMBDA)

The »Leiden Atomic and Molecular Database provides extensive listings of properties of many molecules important in (sub-)millimetre radio astronomy. The database is complemented with the »online radiation transfer program RADEX.

astrochemistry.net

»astrochemistry.net offers a broad - and still growing - variety of catalogues and tools in the field of astrochemistry. Basic features are the up-to-date »catalogue of molecules in space, the »database on molecule properties, and »models for e.g. molecular abundances versus time. This project aims at becoming the ultimate reference for astrochemistry.

NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED)

»NED provides similiar services as CDS, but for extragalactic objects only. Besides »object query, »database search, and »literature search NED provides a collection of »tools for extragalactic astronomy.

Calculators

Coordinate Transformation at NED

The »Coordinates Calculator converts between B1950.0, J2000.0, galactic, ecliptic, and supergalactic coordinates. It also gives estimates of galactic extinction.

Magnitude-Flux Converter

The »magnitude-flux converter at »STSCI gives a first idea of flux conversions.

LSR-Velocity Calculator

The »FUSE Homepage (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer) provides an »LSR velocity calculator. The option "topocentric" appears to take the earth rotation into account.

Astro-Physical Calculator

The »Homepage of Chris Dolan provides an »Astro-Physical Calculator.

Natural Constants at www.westmeier.tk

The »Homepage of Tobias Westmeier provides a »table of natural constants.

Natural Constants from sizes.com

An extensive, but less lucid, »table of natural constants is provided by »sizes.com.

Periodic Table at WebElements

A »periodic table, which gives basic information for each element, is provided by WebElements.

Cosmos Calculator of Edward Wrights Homepage

A »cosmos calulator, which e.g. calculates the cosmic age for each redshift, is provided by Edward Wright.

Computer Stuff

Lecture Notes "Programming for Astronomy"

In Winter 2003/04 the university institutes and MPIfR-Sub(mm) together organized a lecture "Programming for Astronomy" of which the lecture notes are available. It dealt with UNIX shells, Python, Object Oriented Programming, reduction of radio data and IRAF.

This and That

Language

German - English Dictionary at TU Chemnitz

The »interface to the dictionary is extremely comfortable, as you do not always have to switch between german to english and english to german.