Editing Astrophysics Data System (section)

==Historical context==
[[Johann Friedrich Weidler]] published the first comprehensive history of astronomy in 1741 and the first astronomical bibliography in 1755. This was an effort to archive and classify earlier astronomical knowledge and works.

This effort was continued by [[Jérôme Lalande|Jérôme de La Lande]] who published his ''Bibliographie astronomique'' in 1803, a work that covered the period from 480 BCE to the year of publication.

The ''Bibliographie générale de l’astronomie, Volume I and Volume II'', published by J.C. Houzeau and A. Lancaster, followed in 1882 until 1889.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Houzeau |first1=J. C. |title=Bibliographie générale de l'astronomie |date=1887 |publisher=F. Hayez, Imprimeur de L'Académie Royale de Belgique |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJhA9noqjT0C&q=Bibliographie+g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale+de+l%27astronomie+volume+I |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Houzeau |first1=Jean-Charles |title=Bibliographie générale de l'astronomie ou catalogue méthodique des ouvrages, des mémoires et des observations astronomiques publiés depuis l'origine de l'imprimerie jusqu'en 1880: Mémoires et notices insérés dans les Collections académiques et les Revues |date=1882 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzxeAAAAcAAJ |language=fr}}</ref>

As the number of astronomers and astronomical publications grew, bibliographical efforts became institutional tasks, first at the [[Royal Observatory of Belgium|Observatoire Royal de Belgique]], where the ''Bibliography of Astronomy'' was published from 1881 to 1898, and then at the [[Astronomical Calculation Institute (Heidelberg University)|Astronomischer Rechen-Institut]] in Heidelberg, where the yearly ''Astronomischer Jahresbericht'' was published from 1899 to 1968. After 1968, this was replaced by the yearly [[Astronomical Calculation Institute (Heidelberg University)|''Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts'']] book series, which continued until the end of the 20th century.