Sharing Astronomy: Observatory Publications to Science Explorer

The 21st-century emphasis on open science recognizes that astronomy advances when shared both within the professional community and with the broader public that supports such endeavors. Sharing results, methods, data, and calculations or codes allows astronomers to reproduce, verify, and build upon the work of colleagues while ensuring the originators receive appropriate credit. Such transparency boosts trust and creates opportunities for collaboration. While astronomy in the Americas predates European colonialism and colonists engaged in scientific activities, the US Naval Observatory emerged from the Depot of Charts and Instruments in 1844 to address issues of practical astronomy and to accrue scientific credibility for the new nation. It began disseminating its work with the 1846 publication of “Astronomical Observations made under …” Other observatories would follow, circulating their own publications. Responding to the growing profession of astronomy in the US, Benjamin Gould (1824-1896) founded the “Astronomical Journal” in 1849. “Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific” followed when that organization began in 1889. Alongside such peer-reviewed journals, Paul Ginsparg leveraged fledgling web and digital technologies to develop arXiv in 1991. Astronomers can voluntarily share their work prior to publication or review through this platform’s astro-ph category. In 1994, the Astrophysics Data System (ADS), a NASA-funded digital library, became available via the world-wide web. Now, extended to serve astronomy, heliophysics, planetary science, and Earth science as the Science Explorer (SciX), it facilitates the discovery, access, and re-use of observatory publications, journal articles, eprints, data, and software by researchers, students, and the public. Technology evolves but the value of open science and the human desire to know continues.