ATNF (Australia Telescope National Facility) maintains the Australia Telescope, a radio interferometer at Narrabri. Observing proposals and documentation on this facility can be obtained via anonymous FTP from files in the directory atnf.csiro.au:pub/atnfdocs. A README file in this directory contains further details.
ESO (European Southern Observatory) has all press releases including accompanying photographs, lists of all preprints, some full preprints, continually updated weather images of South America and Europe, instrument information, and so on available through its WWW URL http://www.hq.eso.org/eso-homepage.html.
IAU Circulars are posted on various electronic bulletin boards. Contact addresses are marsden@cfa.harvard.edu or green@cfa.harvard.edu.
IRAM (Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique, Grenoble, France) offers an electronic newsletter containing documentation on the IRAM telescopes on Pico Veleta (Granada, Spain) and the radio interferometer on Plateau de Burre (near Grenoble) and on reduction software, files for proposal preparation, etc. For details use anonymous FTP to retrieve the file dist/newsletter/README on node iraux2.iram.fr (193.48.252.22) or send e-mail to newsserv@iram.fr with only the word HELP in the body of the mail. If you want to be notified when a new newsletter becomes available, send a message to iramusers-request@iram.grenet.fr with the one word SUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. For further questions send e-mail to Robert Lucas at lucas@iram.fr or lucas@iramfr51.bitnet.
The La Palma Observatories (Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos) distribute an electronic newsletter, the ``Isaac Newton Group - La Palma Information Bulletin''. Its purpose is to keep the community of users of the optical telescopes on La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain) informed of the actual situation on the mountain top. Distribution is by e-mail only. For subscriptions send your e-mail address to bulletin@ing.iac.es, or, for UK users, to dxc@castro.ast.cam.ac.uk.
NASA Headquarters maintains a WWW server at http://www/mtpe.hq.nasa.gov/HQ_homepage.html. Of particular interest to astronomers are the anonymous FTP directories for Astrophysics, which include the full text of NASA Research Announcements and the newsletters of the Astrophysics Division (the FTP host is ftp.astrophysics.hq.nasa.gov).
NRAO is performing two sky surveys with the VLA. Within the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) the whole sky north of -42 deg. declination is being mapped at 20 cm. The survey will run from 1993 to 1996 at an angular resolution of about 50 arcsec and be complete to a flux density limit of 2 mJy. The NVSS is being made as a service to the astronomical community, and the uv data and maps are being released via anonymous FTP in the directory gibbon.cv.nrao.edu:pub/nvss immediately as they are taken, calibrated, and mapped. Later there will be CD-ROMs and hardcopy listings. An introduction to the NVSS is also available on the WWW at URL address http://info.aoc.nrao.edu. Within another survey (FIRST, or Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm) the north Galactic cap (abs(b) > 30 deg.) will be surveyed from 1993 to 2000 at 20 cm at an angular resolution of about 5 arcsec) to a flux density level of 1 mJy. [References: Condon (1994); Condon et al. (1994); Becker, White, and Helfand (1994).]
NOAO (National Optical Astronomy Observatory) maintains several public FTP archives on node gemini.tuc.noao.edu (140.252.1.11), including weather (weather satellite pictures), noao (information about NOAO), and preprints (Postscript versions of selected NOAO preprints). Past issues of the NOAO Newsletters are available for searching via WAIS on pandora.tuc.noao.edu.
SMTO (Submillimeter Telescope Observatory, Tucson, USA) has commissioned a 10-m telescope for sub-mm observations on Mt. Graham (Arizona) and distributes a newsletter about current progress of the project. Send a message to mailserv@gaffel.as.arizona.edu to receive further details on how to obtain these newsletters.
VLAIS (Very Large Array Information System), supported by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO, USA), contains information about the VLA radio interferometer in New Mexico and provides access to the observations log of all observations made with the VLA, and also with the VLBA (Very Large Baseline Array), a network of radio antennas distributed over the US. Other general information is available, e.g. a master address list for astronomers, NRAO employees e-mail addresses, etc. To access, telnet to zia.aoc.nrao.edu (146.88.1.4) and login as user vlais. Instructions are provided on-line. It is possible to e-mail yourself some of the information in the system; follow the instructions under MAILIT. Send queries to Carl Bignell (cbignell@nrao.edu). [Reference: Bignell (1990).]
Weather information, especially for North America, is provided at many sites. Meteosat and other images of Europe, Australia, North America, etc., are updated regularly during the day. The ``Sources of Meteorological Data FAQ'' gives information about images and forecasts, and is available from rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/news.answers/weather-data.Z. Chilean weather forecasts are available via Gopher at tortel.dcc.uchile.cl (146.83.4.40); log in as gopher, and then choose successively: ``Servicios Miscelaneos'', ``Pronosticos Meteorologicos'', ``Informe Diario Direccion Meteorologica de Chile'').
E. Bryson, Librarian at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation in Kamuela, Hawaii, is working on a database with a WAIS client that will be an international clearing house of observatory manuals and the address of how to acquire them. Send inquiries to her at library@cfht.hawaii.edu.