Astronomy Research Guide

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is America’s civil space program and the global leader in space exploration. The agency has a diverse workforce of just under 18,000 civil servants, and works with many more U.S. contractors, academia, and international and commercial partners to explore, discover, and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity

The NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA) at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland is NASA's primary deep archive site for planetary and lunar data obtained from spacecraft missions (both NASA and non-NASA), as well as the primary center for distribution of planetary data and images to educators and the general public.

The mission of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is to help humanity explore the universe with advanced space telescopes and ever-growing data archives. STScI is a multi-mission science operations center for NASA’s flagship observatories and a world-class astronomical research center.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory is the first mission to be launched for NASA's Living With a Star (LWS) Program, a program designed to understand the causes of solar variability and its impacts on Earth.

The Astronomical Applications Department of the U.S. Naval Observatory computes, from fundamental astronomical reference data, the position, brightness, and other observable characteristics of celestial bodies, as well as the circumstances of astronomical phenomena.

The American Astronomical Society is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America. Members include physicists, mathematicians, geologists, engineers, and others whose research and educational interests lie within the broad spectrum of subjects now comprising the astronomical sciences.

The IAU's mission is to promote and safeguard astronomy in all its aspects (including research, communication, education and development) through international cooperation.

The Royal Astronomical Society, encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science.