Book and Journal Catalogue
Search the online catalogue for books and journals held in the RAS Library. Early printed books are in the process of being added to the catalogue, so please contact the library and archive team with any enquiries about this part of the collection.
Archive Catalogue
The Catalogue of the Archives and Manuscripts of the RAS is available on-line, including a full listing of the Herschel Archive of papers by William, John and Caroline Herschel.
Biographical Information
You can search the index of published obituaries of Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society dating back to the 1820s. We have an extensive guide to other sources of biographical information on astronomers.
Online Journal Articles
If you want to search for astronomical literature online, the Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a great place to start. ADS is a database operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and funded by NASA. It contains over 12 million records of articles on astronomy, astrophysics, geophysics and physics, including all issues of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1827 to the present day, and other Royal Astronomical Society publications. It is a good resource for both current research and history of astronomy.
This short ADS tutorial video shows how to get started, or you can download a PDF guide to the ADS.
For instant access to newly-published articles, you will normally need a subscription to the journal. Fellows of the RAS are entitled to free online access to the Society's research journals and magazine:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Geophysical Journal International
- Astronomy and Geophysics (magazine)
Please contact the Membership Officer for more information.