ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries D ecem ber 1 9 9 4 /7 2 5 Internet resources for the space sciences By R obert W. Pasicznyuk A g u id e to inform ation th a t is out o f this world I n the com ing d ecad e NASA e xp ects todownload a terabyte of information each da from its space station— roughly equivalent to 71 billion floppy disks or 15 billion compact discs. The deluge of tomorrow has a harbinger today in the wealth o f information opportuni­ ties in the space sciences on the Internet. Inter­ net aerospace and astrophysics sources offer a mix of traditional text databases, high-resolu­ tion graphics archives, news services, and dis­ cussion lists. Like other information in electronic formats, space sciences sources on the Net have the advantage of being continually updated and augmented. The varied formats present media ready for personal manipulation, analysis, and enjoyment. Information sources on the Internet in the space sciences offer an array o f text, auditory, and graphic information. Taking advantage of these sources requires both the computer hard­ ware and software to handle multimedia files. One of the givens of multimedia computing is that the files are large. Searchers interested in collecting multiple files must have sufficient stor­ age capacity to handle the load. M ultim edia inform ation centers CASS: C enter fo r Advanced Space Studies. Cass offers text and graphic information from numerous NASA projects. Contributors include the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), the Ex­ ploration Science Institute (ESI), NASA’s Divi­ sion of Educational Program (DEP), and NASA libraries. Through CASS, users can find an­ y nouncements o f astrophysics and astronomy professional meetings, read articles from the L u n ar a n d P lan etary Bulletin‚ or consult sev­ eral indexes and reference works. CASS also acts as a gateway to other sources: the Lunar and Planetary Bibliography, NASA libraries, and the Image Retrieval and Processing System. A c­ cess: Telnet: CASS.JSC.NASA.GOV; login as cass (lowercase); the password is online. (Note: The “About CASS” option is invaluable for navigat­ ing the system.) NASA SPACELINK. Spacelink provides a wealth o f text reports covering NASA projects both past and present. In addition to astronomy and astrophysics information, users can display files covering the environment, the history of space exploration, space shuttle flight informa­ tion, NASA plans for the future, and fact sheets. Spacelink also provides image files (GIF for­ mat). Look for images of the comet Shoemaker- Levy 9 ’s impact with Jupiter. A ccess: Telnet: SPACELINK.MSFC.NASA.GOV; anonymous ftp is available at spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov; connect via the World Wide Web at http://spacelink. msfc.nasa.gov. NED: NASA E xtrag alactic Database. NED allows users to search celestial objects, data, and literature. Information about objects is ac­ cessible by object name, position, and skyplot. Search parameters also include catalog and photometry. NED acts as a current-awareness service providing contents and abstracts infor­ mation from prominent astronomy and astro­ physics journals. Searching the journal contents, abstracts, and dissertation/thesis options will become apparent to anyone who has searched similar databases. The other options require facility with astronomy nomenclature and des­ ignations. More information about NED is avail- Robert W. Pasicznyuk is sciences subject specialist at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs; e-mail: rwpasicznyuk@uccs.edu http://spacelink mailto:rwpasicznyuk@uccs.edu 7 26/C&RL News able in Egret and Albrecht’s D a ta b a ses a n d On lin e D ata in A stronom y. Page 91 contains a dis cussion o f NED. Access Telnet: NED.IPAC CALTECH.EDU; login as ned. NODIS: N atio n al S p a ce S c ie n c e D at Center. NODIS is a gateway for space scienc data in the topics o f astrophysics, space phys ic s , p la n e ta ry s c ie n c e s , e a rth s c ie n c e s , microgravity, and spacecraft. NODIS also pro vides a catalog o f NASA CD-ROMs with order ing capability. Users can view sample image o f the CDs through Mosaic. Otherwise, the im ages can be downloaded and retrieved vi anonymous ftp. NODIS files are in GIF, Post script, RTF, and ASCII formats. Access: Telnet: NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV; login as nodis. Anonymous ftp is available at nssdc.gsfc. nasa.gov. STEIS: Space T elescop e E lectro n ic In fo r m ation Service Gopher. The Space Telescop Information System gopher is maintained b the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI). I contains information about and from the Hubbl Space Telescope. Through the gopher, user can more easily locate, view, and downloa files. They can search Hubble status reports, time lines, and action reports. The STEIS go pher also provides an index to some astrophys ics and astronomy journals, an astronome e-mail address index, and a gateway to othe astronomy databases and ftp archives. Some o the unique sources available via the STEIS go pher are electronic PictureBooks. Produced b the Special Studies O ffice o f the STSI, the PictureBooks offer HyperCard tours o f a vari ety o f space and earth sciences subjects. Look for Hubble Space Telescope images, views o the earth from the space shuttle Endeavour, images o f planets, and more. Access: Gopher: stsci.edu; anonymous ftp is also available a stsci.edu; STEIS is accessible via the World Wide Web at gopher://stsci.edu:70/l. ADS: NASA A stro p h y sics D ata System Server. The NASA ADS aims at making NAS space missions information available to astrono mers. It supplies software allowing users to make complex operations and manipulations on NASA data sets. Sample questions that can be answered through ADS include: What supernova remnant images are available in the X-ray wavelength band? What sites have catalogs o f observational data? Are the observations available? ADS also provides access to its home page, tutorial, and registration. The home page sup ­ . a e ­ ­ ­ s ­ a ­ ­ e y t e s d ­ ­ r r f ­ y ­ f t A ­ ­ ­ plies information about the system and acts as a gateway to other Internet space sciences sources. ADS also allows searching o f 160,000 abstracts produced in the NASA/STI project, access to an archive o f data collected by the Einstein X-ray satellite mission, and access to about 150 astronomical catalogs. The home page describes how to register for ADS soft­ ware. A ccess: http://adswww.colorado.edu. N e w s an d discussion Hubble Telescop e Bulletin B oard Daily and Status R eports. This BBS lists Hubble status reports, scheduled activities, and tasks accom­ plished. Access.-Telnet: STINFO.HQ.ESO.ORG; login as stinfo (lower case). NASA SPACELINK. SPACELINK provides NASA news and shuttle flight information. A c­ cess: Telnet: SPACELINK.MSFC.NASA.GOV. SPACEMET: S cience and Space Bulletin B oard . SpaceMet is sponsored by the Depart­ ment o f Physics and Astronomy at the Univer­ sity o f Massachusetts, Amherst, the National Sci­ ence Foundation, and MassNet. It provides a forum for discussing space sciences issues. This BBS is geared toward K -12 students and teach­ ers, but many o f the discussions are appropri­ ate for students and faculty at the collegiate level who have interest in the subject. A ccess: Telnet: SPACEMET.PHAST.UMASS.EDU. SCI.ASTRO.HUBBLE New sgroup This fo­ rum was originally intended to center on the processing o f data taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). It has become an instalment for the dissemination o f information about the operations and status of HST. The newsgroup also serves as a platform for problems, requests, suggestions, and needs o f the scientific com­ munity as it uses the telescope for research pur­ poses. C ontact: scowen@wfpc3.la.asu.edu for information and article submission. SpaceNews. Not a listserv or BBS, Space- News is a news and information service avail­ able weekly via the Amateur Packet Radio Network (AMPR), AMSAT-OSCAR-16, and the Usenet newsgroups of rec.radio.amateur.space, rec.radio.amateur.misc, rec.radio.amateur.info, and sci.space.news. Archives are available via anonymous ftp at pilot.njin.net in the pub/ SpaceNews subdirectory. It originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, and is made available for unlimited free distribution. Access: Finger m agliaco@ pilot.m jin.net for current new s. C on tact: k d 2bd @ ka2q h d .d e.co m or kd2bd@amsat.org for more information. ■ http://adswww.colorado.edu mailto:scowen@wfpc3.la.asu.edu mailto:magliaco@pilot.mjin.net mailto:kd2bd@ka2qhd.de.com mailto:kd2bd@amsat.org D ecem b er 1 9 9 4 / 7 2 7 M a n y o f A m e r i c a ’ s y o u t h O R G A N I Z A T I O N S T E A C H L OYAL T Y. B r a v e r y . A n d s u r v i v a l . B u t i n s o m e , t h e d u e s a r e h i g h e r t h a n o t h e r s . Twenty years ago, the closest most kids came to a ang was hanging out with friends in a clubhouse. oday, tens of thousands are gang members, with more ining every day. The growth of gangs across America is just one of the portant public and social policy issues ou can research through PAIS International. AIS gives you immediate acce ss to an dex of some 400,000 hard-to-find articles, g T jo im y P in books, government documents, statistical directories and more, it references literature published around the globe. 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