A new proposal to improve the description of astronomical resources. The case of historical star catalogues
| Date | 09 March 2015 |
| Pages | 317-337 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-10-2013-0129 |
| Published date | 09 March 2015 |
| Author | Mª Pilar Alonso Lifante,Celia Chaín Navarro,Francisco José González González |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management |
A new proposal to improve the
description of astronomical
resources
The case of historical star catalogues
M
a̲
Pilar Alonso Lifante and Celia Chaín Navarro
Information and Documentation, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain, and
Francisco José González González
Library and Historical Archive,
Royal Institute and Observatory of the Spanish Navy, Ministry of Defence,
San Fernando (Cádiz), Country, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to show that some important astronomical information is still
not taken into account in the documental description of historical star catalogues.
Design/methodology/approach –A sample of 28 historical star catalogues (eighteenth, nineteenth
and twentieth centuries) from the Royal Institute and Observatory of the Spanish Navy was selected in
order to analyse their structure and to identify information patterns.
Findings –The analysis shows that there are a number of technical parameters which are not present
in the cataloguing standards and which should be taken into account in the bibliographic descriptions
of these specialised documents since they are of great interest to astronomers and astrophysicists.
On the other hand, star catalogues provide some cartographic information which can be described by
these standards but whose corresponding fields are not widely used by cataloguers.
Originality/value –A proposal of new technical parameters is given in order to try to improve the
bibliographic records of these astronomical resources. Some directions are also given in order to
identify the sections of the catalogues where these parameters may be found, making the task of
locating them easier.
Keywords Astronomical information retrieval, Cartographic resources, Cataloguing quality,
Cataloguing standards, Royal institute and observatory of the spanish navy, Star catalogues
Paper type Research paper
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 71 No. 2, 2015
pp. 317-337
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-10-2013-0129
Received 11 October 2013
Revised 14 March 2014
Accepted 5 April 2014
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
This work has been carried out thanks to funding from the Fundación Séneca (Science and
Technology Regional Agency of Murcia, Spain) and is one of the results of ARGOS II project,
reference number 11936/PHCS/09. The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees whose
observations and suggestions were very helpful and to Dr Francisco Javier Molero Madrid
(Telecommunications Engineer and PhD in Astrodynamics and Celestial Mechanics, Department
of Applied Mathematics, University of Murcia, Spain) for his ideas, comments and advice as well
as time spent reading preliminary versions of the article. The authors are especially grateful to
the ROA staff, in particular Mercedes Espada Bordes and Francisco López Vico, for their patience
and kindness in supplying the requested documents. Thanks and appreciations are also due to
Mr José Espinosa Pérez (Romance Philology and Professor of Latin, “Jiménez de la Espada”,
Cartagena, Spain) for his translation of Flamsteed’s catalogue. Special thanks also to Elena
Escolano (Head of Unit Standards Heritage Area of the General Office of Publications and
Cultural Heritage Spanish Defence Ministry) for kindly replying to all our e-mails. The authors
are also indebted towards Dr Mike Tobin (Cambridge CELTA) for his revision and correction of
the English language version of the paper.
317
Description of
astronomical
resources
Introduction
Analysis of available data are a powerful tool to obtain information to allow predictions
about future events in certain areas and to make new discoveries in others. In particular,
most of the main advances in astronomy have been possible due to the use of historical
data and the efforts to preserve them by astronomers (Griffin, 2001; López, 2013). One of
the last examples was the discovery of the 14th Neptune moon thanks to the analysis
of “more than 150 archival Neptune photographs taken by Hubble from 2004 to 2009”
(NASA Headquarters, 2013).
From a documentary point of view, the results of astronomical observations have been
presented throughout history in different formats, including handwritten records, charts
and astrophotographic images, etc. These results have also been stored in different ways,
books being the main format for the historical star catalogues (Covington, 2006).
Definition of a star catalogue
Different definitions have been given in the literature for a star catalogue. A first
definition can be found in the specialised dictionary of the Real Academia de Ciencias
Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (1990, p. 123) where “star catalogue”is defined as a list of
stars with their coordinates, apparent magnitudes, spectral types, proper motions and
radial velocities. These data refer to a specific instant of time known as the epoch of the
catalogue which is often the beginning of a Besselian year. The catalogue can also refer
to a specific type of star (doubles, variables, etc.). In turn, a similar definition can be
found in Enciclopaedia Britannica (2013) which defines star catalogue as: “list of stars,
usually according to position and magnitude (brightness) and, in some cases, other
properties (e.g. spectral type) as well”.
Finally, a more documentary definition was given by Evans (2010) who stated that
“the star catalogue, as a genre, is the formal presentation of the results of observations
of celestial objects published in book form, as distinguished from specifically mathematical
treatises on celestial movement, from star tables used for chronological or astrological
purposes, or from observing reports written in a narrative style”.
Importance of star catalogues throughout history
From the earliest stages of civilisation, human beings have felt it necessary to
record the positions of celestial objects and this practice is currently known as
“astrometry”which is defined as “the branch of astronomy concerned with the accurate
measurement of the positions and motions of celestial objects”(Perryman, 2012).
According to López (2013), the history of astrometric catalogues can be divided into
three different periods: “visual (with or without instrument), photographic and
charge-coupled device (CCD) (earth- or space-based instruments)”. As their names
suggest, the determination of every period is directly related to the available technology,
both to carry out the observations and to record them. From the very beginning, the
human naked eye became the first detector because of the absence of technical devices to
observe the night sky. At that time, the documentation of the positions and brightness of
the stars had to be performed by hand. However, this rudimentary procedure did not
prevent the discovery of previously unknown movements of the Earth when sets of data
from different catalogues and centuries were compared (Perryman, 2012).
Over time, and due to the birth of new and more modern observation and
registration instruments (telescope, CCD cameras, etc.) (Stephenson et al., 2000; Kanas,
2009; Bennett, 1992; Brooks, 1991), the first and basic handwritten records gave way to
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