Kristen Larson’s Guide for Students Seeking Research Articles in Professional Astronomy

If you want to learn more about astronomy, where should you look? New results in astronomy can be found in newspapers, magazines, and internet web sites. Some of my favorite sources are the science section of the New York Times, Scientific American, and the science section of Space.com. I like these sources because they include plenty of background information and present the quantitative detail in a way most of us can understand. In addition, they include images and figures that are very informative.

But where do professional astronomers, including me, get information about new research in their own fields? We go to peer-reviewed journals. Peer-reviewed means that each article must be approved by an anonymous referee who is a professional astronomer in the same subfield before the article is accepted for publication. Peer- reviewed journal articles have many benefits to students of astronomy because the articles are “straight from the horse’s mouth”, written by the scientists who did the research. Journal articles have more detail about the data and calculations that were used in the research and have convinced at least one other independent scientist that the methods are legitimate. The major drawback for the student of astronomy is that the articles do not have very much background information. Readers of these articles can expect jargon, as many professional journal articles assume that the reader is an expert in the subfield. Even with these caveats, I do encourage students of astronomy to explore journal articles in topics that particularly interest them.

One of the best ways to find research articles is through the NASA Astrophysics Data Systems search site. The only trick to using this service is learning to limit searches. For example, if you try typing “black hole” in the Title Words box and then Send Query, you will get thousands of results! Here are some suggestions to keep from getting overwhelmed. First, be as specific as possible in the subject box. Instead of “black hole”, try “black hole stars orbits Milky Way” for example. You can also search by specific object name, but astronomers often have technical names for objects that are not well known to the public. You can limit the years to just the last several years or months by entering a starting date into the Publication Date boxes.

You also can limit your search by source. Limiting to peer-reviewed articles will eliminate references to conference posters, book reviews, and other types of publications. If you are specifically looking for technical information but you are just beginning your search, I recommend that you limit the search to one specific journal. Important journals in research astronomy include the American journals such as Astronomical Journal and the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, worldwide journals such as Astronomy & Astrophysics, and field-specific journals such as Icarus. The main journal of astronomy in the United States is probably the Astrophysical Journal. This journal has a separate section called Astrophysical Journal Letters, sometimes shortened to “ApJ Letters” in conversation. This section is for the most important and time-critical results in astronomy. The articles are published on an accelerated schedule and are limited to just four pages in the journal. The articles will be heavily referenced to longer articles in the main journal if you want to learn more. To search just this journal, scroll down and click on the Selected publications, type ApJL into the box, then Send Query. Try it! The best part is that because we have a subscription to this journal, you can click on the reference you want in the resulting list and download the real article on the spot if you are using a Western-connected computer.

Finally, I have one word of caution. Be very careful about astronomy news that you find on the internet. Check the domain of the site (the http address) and the authors of the research and the report. Real science reporters must specifically identify their sources, and real science results must be checked and rechecked by independent observers. If you have any doubts, check the peer-reviewed article for yourself. Remember, the goal of the astronomy knowledge that you are gaining is to make lifelong learning about astronomy news more interesting and fun. Most importantly, enjoy!