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)
• 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
• 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)

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)
• 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

• 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
• Communicating Astronomy with the Public (CAP) - Yerevan, Armenia (25 – 29 May 2026), also online. Hosted in partnership by the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory, the Armenian Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Commission C2

Education and Public Outreach

• Shadow the Scientists - Connecting communities to today's scientists and the scientific process

Miscellaneous

• Gazing Into the Past and Future at Historic Observatories - New York Times article (7 Nov 2023)
• Friends of Historical Observatories - Facebook group (managed by John Adler)