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Preserving and Archiving Astronomical Photographic Plates

M. W. Castelaz, J. D. Cline

206th Meeting of the American Astronomical SocietySession 24.04

I. The Need

II. Requirements for Plate Center

III. Infrastructure at PARI to meet that need

IV. Implementation

V. Special Session at 207th Meeting of the AAS in January 2006

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• New observations complement past observations

recorded on photographic plates. Analyses of

changes provide essential routes to information

about an object's formation, constitution and

evolution. Preserving a century of photographic

plate observations is thus of paramount importance.

• Plate collections are presently widely dispersed.

Collections may be inaccessible, or in some cases

lost, to both researchers and historians.

• Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute has the

infrastructure to preserve collections.

I. The Need

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• A secure area with controlled access

• Backup power for several hundred hours

• Several thousand square feet of floor space

• A solid foundation and space for a high-resolution scanner or densitometer

• High speed internet access

• Space for servers and storage media

• A clean, relative dust-free environment

• Maintained humidity and temperature

• Protection from sunlight

II. Requirements for Plate Center

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PARI

III. Infrastructure at PARI to meet that need

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Pisgah Astronomical Research InstituteNot-for-profit public foundation

PARI is uniquely placed and equipped to be a plate center

Several thousand square feet of windowless space

Concrete structures with concrete and raised flooring - ideal for storage and hosting remote computer operations

Environmental controls (humidity monitoring, air filtration and air conditioning) are in place and can be supported with emergency backup systems

Fiber-optics communication network

Systems for water, fire protection and security

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IV. Implementation

To implement, funding required for

• Librarian/Photographic Plate Historian

• Information Technologist/Web Site Development and

Maintenance

• Scanner

• Computers/server

• Optical Bench as scanner table

• Office furniture and supplies

• Receiving/Shipping

• Upgrade to Internet 2

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Function when implemented

1. Preservation and Storage: collections will be sorted, cleaned and cataloged on-line

• Support multidisciplinary research (e.g. chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere, library information science, trends in local weather patterns, and impacts of urbanization on telescope use)

• Hand-written observatory logs will be a valuable resource for the science historians and biographers.

2. Digitization: Full scientific and historic use of the material then requires the observations themselves to be accessible digitally.

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V. Special Session at 207th Meeting of the AAS in January 2006

Session Title: Preserving and Digitizing Astronomical Photographic Plates

Call to astronomical community for the urgent need to address the problem of photographic plate preservation and digitization.

1. Series of 5 and 10 minute talks in two areas:

• Digitization of plates for research purposes

• Preservation of plates physically and by digitization.

2. Open discussion

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