Resources

Below is a link to the Alliance’s press kit, which provides essential information about our mission, objectives, organization, as well as background details and media resources. We appreciate your interest in the AHO.

AHO PRESS KIT   

Please let us know of additions/edits to the following list:

Preservation and Heritage

• Outstanding Astronomical Heritage - part of the UNESCO Portal to the Heritage of Astronomy (edited by G. Wolfschmidt).
• Astronomy and World Heritage Thematic Initiative - establishing a link between science and culture towards recognition of the monuments and sites connected with astronomical observations.
• ICOMOS Thematic Studies - heritage sites of astronomy and archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. See also Cultural Heritage of Astronomical Observatories: From Classical Astronomy to Modern Astrophysics (2009).
• Historic Sites and Events Initiative by the American Physical Society - commemorating significant locations and milestones in physics history.
• Working Group on the Preservation of Astronomical Heritage (WGPAH) - developing and disseminating procedures, criteria and priorities for identifying, designating, and preserving astronomical structures, instruments, and records so that they will continue to be available for astronomical and historical research, for the teaching of astronomy, and for outreach to the general public.
• AAS Historical Astronomy Division (HAD) - advancing interest in topics relating to the historical nature of astronomy.
• History of Astronomy - IAU Commission C3.
• World Heritage and Astronomy - IAU Commission C4.
• Preservation and Digitization of Photographic Plates - IAU B2 Working Group, encouraging efforts to digitize plates.
• International Glass Plates Group (IGPG) - a forum to discuss issues related to the preservation and access of astronomical glass plates in support of scientific and historical research. Join their email list via this URL.
• Antique Telescope Society - a nonprofit society of telescope enthusiasts dedicated to maintaining, promoting, collecting, and learning about antique telescopes, historic observatories, and related equipment and materials.
• Scientific Instruments Commission - a constituent group in the Division for the History of Science and Technology (DHST) under the International Union for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IUHPST).
• Scientific Instrument Society - bringing together people with a specialist interest in scientific instruments, from antiques to electronic devices only recently out of production.

Archival and Databases

• Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA) - Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI).
• Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard (DASCH) - see also the Harvard Plate Stacks and StarGlass.
• Archives of Photographic PLates for Astronomical USE (APPLAUSE) - plate archives/collections from Hamburg, Bamberg, Potsdam, Tautenburg, Tartu, and Vatican Observatory.
• Heidelberg Digitized Astronomical Plates (HDAP) - see also the German Astrophysical Virtual Observatory (GAVO).
• Pulvere di stelle (INAF) - one-stop cultural heritage site for Italian astronomy with links to libraries, museums, archives and collections across all historic Italian observatories.
• Hubble Project - Edwin Hubble's Ph.D. dissertation and photographic glass plates.
• Boyden Observatory Digitized Archive - plates, photographs, logbooks, and other records hosted by the British Library.
• Carnegie Plate Archive - over 200,000 glass plate negatives, including spectra, direct object images, and solar plates created using telescopes at the Kenwood, Mount Wilson, Palomar, and Las Campanas Observatories.

Conferences/Meetings/Symposia

• Astronomy @ 250 - Online (26 – 29 August 2026). Hosted by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, this will be a virtual conference celebrating 250 years of astronomy in the United States bringing together researchers, educators, amateur astronomers, and curious minds from across the community.
• 2026 Scientific Instrument Commission Symposium - Neuchâtel, Switzerland (6 – 12 September 2026). Organized by the Association Automates & Merveilles in close collaboration with the University of Neuchâtel and the Haute École Arc.
• Association of Science & Technology Centers 2026 - Phoenix, AZ, USA (16 – 19 September 2026). Hosted by Arizona Science Center.
• IAU-OAE Conference on Astronomy for Education - Online (17 – 20 November 2026). Funded by the Shaw Prize Foundation.
• Science Talk ’27 - Chicago, IL, USA (8 – 9 April 2027). Organized by the Association of Science Communicators.
• NCRAL 2027 Convention - Waukesha, WI, USA (14 – 16 May 2027). Celebrating 80 years of the North Central Region of the Astronomical League (NCRAL).
• Biennial History of Astronomy Workshop - Notre Dame, IN, USA (23 – 26 June 2027). Hosted by the University of Notre Dame.

Education and Public Outreach

• Shadow the Scientists - Connecting communities to today's scientists and the scientific process.
• International Planetarium Society.

Miscellaneous

• Gazing Into the Past and Future at Historic Observatories - New York Times article (7 Nov 2023).
• The Road to the Stars: Five out-of-this-world facts about campus astronomical observatories - AAC&U Magazine article (Spring 2026).
• Friends of Historical Observatories - Facebook group (managed by John Adler).