Astronomische Nachrichten
 The January 2006 cover |
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Abbreviated title (ISO 4)
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Astron. Nachr. |
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| Discipline | Astronomy and Astrophysics |
| Language | English (solely since 1990) |
| Edited by | K. G. Strassmeier |
| Publication details | |
| Publisher | |
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Publication history
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1821–present |
| Frequency | 10 issues per year |
| 0.922 | |
| Indexing | |
| ISSN |
0004-6337 (print) 1521-3994 (web) |
| LCCN | 13011169 |
| CODEN | ASNAAN |
| OCLC no. | 76516376 |
| Links | |
Astronomische Nachrichten (Astronomical Notes), one of the first international journals in the field of astronomy, was founded in 1821 by the German astronomer Heinrich Christian Schumacher. It claims to be the oldest astronomical journal in the world that is still being published. The publication today specializes in articles on solar physics, extragalactic astronomy, cosmology, geophysics, and instrumentation for these fields. All articles are subject to peer review.
The journal was founded in 1821 by Heinrich Christian Schumacher, under the patronage of Christian VIII of Denmark, and quickly became the world's leading professional publication for the field of astronomy, succeeding where others had failed or not achieved the same renown. Schumacher edited the journal at the observatory in Altona, then part of Denmark, later part of Prussia, and today part of the German city of Hamburg.
Schumacher edited the first 31 issues of the journal, from its founding in 1821 until his death in 1850. These early issues ran to hundreds of pages, and consisted mostly of letters sent by astronomers to Schumacher, reporting their observations. The journal proved to be a great success, and over the years Schumacher received thousands of letters from hundreds of contributors. The letters were published in the language in which they were submitted, mostly German, but also English, Italian and other languages.
The journal's renown was acknowledged by the British astronomer John Herschel (then secretary to the Royal Astronomical Society) in a letter to the Danish King in 1840, writing that Astronomische Nachrichten was:
Other astronomical journals were also founded around this time, such as the British Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, which was founded in 1827. It was the importance of Astronomische Nachrichten, however, that led the American astronomer Benjamin A. Gould in 1850 to found The Astronomical Journal in the United States.
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