Cosmic Archaeology: The Recent History of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Analyzed through Literature Heat Maps

The purpose of this project is split into two parts- the first of which is testing the functionality of the Astrophysics Data System All-Sky Survey (ADSASS), using Aladin and WorldWide Telescope (WWT) to display heat maps showing where and why the Sky has been studied and by whom, over time. These tests are significant, as this project is, as far as we know, the first of its kind to use the ADSASS, or any heat map, to study the distribution of astronomy research projects on the Sky. The second part of the project focuses on utilizing the ADSASS to analyze the history of the output of astronomical articles specifically from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) through heat maps of article density portrayed on the sky through the articles’ objects’ coordinates. This study demonstrates if and how CfA scientists’ interests varied from the general interests of the Astrophysics community at various points from 2000-2012. Conducting the research also lead to identification of areas of improvement and changes for the ADSASS, Aladin, and WWT teams. The study concludes that once planned improvements to the “Select Tool” are implemented, analysis of the ADSASS heat maps will offer a very useful technique for studying and analyzing the history of astrophysics research at any institution, especially for the years 2000-2012 in which the collection of articles is the most complete.