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Astronomical Almanac - Wikipedia
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Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.<br /><small><span class="plainlinks"><i>Find sources:</i> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?as_eq=wikipedia&q=%22Astronomical+Almanac%22">"Astronomical Almanac"</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=%22Astronomical+Almanac%22+-wikipedia&tbs=ar:1">news</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?&q=%22Astronomical+Almanac%22&tbs=bkt:s&tbm=bks">newspapers</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&q=%22Astronomical+Almanac%22+-wikipedia">books</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Astronomical+Almanac%22">scholar</a> <b>·</b> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/action/doBasicSearch?Query=%22Astronomical+Almanac%22&acc=on&wc=on">JSTOR</a></span></small></span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">November 2023</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p> The <i><b>Astronomical Almanac</b></i><sup id="cite_ref-AsA_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-AsA-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> is an <a href="/wiki/Almanac" title="Almanac">almanac</a> published by the <a href="/wiki/United_Kingdom_Hydrographic_Office" title="United Kingdom Hydrographic Office">United Kingdom Hydrographic Office</a>; it also includes data supplied by many scientists from around the world. On page vii, the listed major contributors to its various Sections are: <a href="/wiki/HM_Nautical_Almanac_Office" title="HM Nautical Almanac Office">H.M Nautical Almanac Office</a>, United Kingdom Hydrographic Office; the Nautical Almanac Office, <a href="/wiki/United_States_Naval_Observatory" title="United States Naval Observatory">United States Naval Observatory</a>; the <a href="/wiki/Jet_Propulsion_Laboratory" title="Jet Propulsion Laboratory">Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a>, <a href="/wiki/California_Institute_of_Technology" title="California Institute of Technology">California Institute of Technology</a>; the IAU Standards Of Fundamental Astronomy (SOFA) initiative; the Institut de Mécanique Céleste et des Calcul des Éphémerides, <a href="/wiki/Paris_Observatory" title="Paris Observatory">Paris Observatory</a>; and the <a href="/wiki/Minor_Planet_Center" title="Minor Planet Center">Minor Planet Center</a>, Cambridge, Massachusetts. </p><p>It is considered a worldwide resource for fundamental astronomical data, often being the first publication to incorporate new <a href="/wiki/International_Astronomical_Union" title="International Astronomical Union">International Astronomical Union</a> resolutions. The almanac largely contains <a href="/wiki/Solar_System" title="Solar System">Solar System</a> <a href="/wiki/Ephemerides" class="mw-redirect" title="Ephemerides">ephemerides</a> based on the JPL Solar System integration "DE440" (created June 2020), and <a href="/wiki/Astronomical_catalog" title="Astronomical catalog">catalogs</a> of selected stellar and extragalactic objects. The material appears in sections, each section addressing a specific astronomical category. The book also includes references to the material, explanations, and examples. It used to be available up to one year in advance of its date, however the current 2024 edition became available only one month in advance; in December 2023. </p><p>The <i>Astronomical Almanac Online</i> was a companion to the printed volume. It was designed to broaden the scope of the publication, not duplicate the data. In addition to ancillary information, the <i>Astronomical Almanac Online</i> extended the printed version by providing data best presented in machine-readable form. The 2024 printed edition of the Almanac states on page iv: "The web companion to <i>The Astronomical Almanac</i> has been withdrawn as of January 2023." </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Publication_contents">Publication contents</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Astronomical_Almanac&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Publication contents"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <dl><dt>Section A</dt> <dd>PHENOMENA: includes information on the seasons, phases of the Moon, configurations of the planets, eclipses, transits of Mercury or Venus, sunrise/set, moonrise/set times, and times for twilight. Preprints of many of these data appear in <i>Astronomical Phenomena</i>,<sup id="cite_ref-APh_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-APh-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> another joint publication by USNO and HMNAO.</dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section B</dt> <dd>TIME-SCALES AND COORDINATE SYSTEMS: contains calendar information, relationships between time scales, universal and sidereal times, Earth rotation angle, definitions of the various celestial coordinate systems, frame bias, precession, nutation, obliquity, intermediate system, the position and velocity of the Earth, and coordinates of Polaris. Preprints of many of these data also appear in <i>Astronomical Phenomena</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-APh_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-APh-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section C</dt> <dd>SUN; covers detailed positional information on the Sun, including the ecliptic and equatorial coordinates, physical ephemerides, geocentric rectangular coordinates, times of transit, and the equation of time.</dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section D</dt> <dd>MOON: contains detailed positional information on the Moon including phases, mean elements of the orbit and rotation, lengths of mean months, ecliptic and equatorial coordinates, librations, and physical ephemerides.</dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section E</dt> <dd>PLANETS: consist of detailed positional information on each of the major planets including osculating orbital elements, heliocentric ecliptic and geocentric equatorial coordinates, and physical ephemerides.</dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section F</dt> <dd>NATURAL SATELLITES; covers positional information on the satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn (including the rings), Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.</dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section G</dt> <dd>DWARF PLANETS AND SMALL SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES: includes positional and physical data on selected dwarf planets, positional information on bright minor planets and periodic comets.</dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section H</dt> <dd>STARS AND STELLAR SYSTEMS: contains mean places for bright stars, double stars, UBVRI standards, ubvy and H beta standards, spectrophotometric standards, radial velocity standards, variable stars, exoplanet and host stars, bright galaxies, open clusters, globular clusters, ICRF2 radio source positions, radio flux calibrators, x-ray sources, quasars, pulsars, and gamma ray sources.</dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section J</dt> <dd>OBSERVATORIES: was a worldwide index of observatory names, locations, MPC codes, and instrumentation in alphabetical order and by country. This section has now been removed as stated in the printed 2024 edition on page J1: "We are presently reserving Section J for possible new contents in future editions of <i>The Astronomical Almanac</i>." An explanation is given on page iv: "Section J: Observatories: This section has been removed as it is significantly out-of-date and it is not clear that a static listing of Observatories is a useful service any longer."</dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section K</dt> <dd>TABLES AND DATA: includes Julian dates, selected astronomical constants, relations between time scales, coordinates of the celestial pole, reduction of terrestrial coordinates, interpolations methods, vectors and matrices.</dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section L</dt> <dd>NOTES AND REFERENCES: gives notes on the data and references for source material found in the almanac.</dd></dl> <dl><dt>Section M</dt> <dd>GLOSSARY: contains terms and definitions for many of the words and phrases, with emphasis on positional astronomy.</dd></dl> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Publication_history">Publication history</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Astronomical_Almanac&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Publication history"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The <i>Astronomical Almanac</i> is the direct descendant of the British and American <a href="/wiki/Nautical_almanac" title="Nautical almanac">navigational almanacs</a>. The British <i>Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris</i> had been published since 1766, and was renamed <i>The Astronomical Ephemeris</i> in 1960. <i>The American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac</i> had been published since 1852. In 1981 the British and American publications were combined under the title <i>The Astronomical Almanac</i>."<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Explanatory_Supplement_to_the_Astronomical_Almanac">Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Astronomical_Almanac&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The <i><b>Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac</b></i>, currently in its third edition (2013), provides detailed discussion of usage and data reduction methods used by the <i>Astronomical Almanac</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-ESAA2013_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ESAA2013-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It covers its history, significance, sources, methods of computation, and use of the data. Because the <i>Astronomical Almanac</i> prints primarily positional data, this book goes into great detail on techniques to get astronomical positions. Earlier editions of the supplement were published in 1961<sup id="cite_ref-ESAE1961_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ESAE1961-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and in 1992.<sup id="cite_ref-ESAA1992_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-ESAA1992-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Astronomical_Almanac&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/American_Ephemeris_and_Nautical_Almanac" title="American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac">American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac</a></i> (specific title)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Astronomical_Ephemeris" class="mw-redirect" title="Astronomical Ephemeris">Astronomical Ephemeris</a> (generic article)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Almanac" title="Almanac">Almanac</a> (generic article)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nautical_almanac" title="Nautical almanac">Nautical almanac</a> (generic article)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Nautical_Almanac" title="The Nautical Almanac">The Nautical Almanac</a></i> (familiar name for a specific series of (official British) publications which appeared under a variety of different full titles for the period 1767 to 1959, as well as being a specific official title (jointly UK/US-published) for 1960 onwards)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jet_Propulsion_Laboratory_Development_Ephemeris" title="Jet Propulsion Laboratory Development Ephemeris">Jet Propulsion Laboratory Development Ephemeris</a> (used by the <i>Astronomical Almanac</i>)</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Astronomical_Almanac&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-AsA-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-AsA_1-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">The <i>Astronomical Almanac</i> for the Year 2024, © Crown Copyright 2023, ISSN 0737-6421 <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7077-46357" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-7077-46357">978-0-7077-46357</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-APh-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-APh_2-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-APh_2-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Astronomical Phenomena for the Year 2016</i> (United States Naval Observatory/Nautical Almanac Office and Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office, 2014)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">"<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://aa.usno.navy.mil/publications/docs/asa_history.php">History of the Astronomical Almanac</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090305231056/http://aa.usno.navy.mil/publications/docs/asa_history.php">Archived</a> 2009-03-05 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>." United States Naval Observatory.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ESAA2013-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-ESAA2013_4-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">S.E. Urban and P. Kenneth Seidelmann (eds), <i>Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac: Third Edition</i> (Mill Valley [CA]: University Science Books, 2013), <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-891389-85-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-891389-85-6">978-1-891389-85-6</a> – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.uscibooks.com/urban.htm">list of errata</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210417111400/http://www.uscibooks.com/urban.htm">Archived</a> 2021-04-17 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ESAE1961-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-ESAE1961_5-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/astronomicalalmanac1961"><i>Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Ephemeris and the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac</i></a> (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1961).</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-ESAA1992-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-ESAA1992_6-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">P. Kenneth Seidelmann (ed.), <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/131123ExplanatorySupplementAstronomicalAlmanac"><i>Explanatory Supplement to the </i>Astronomical Almanac<i>: A Revision to the Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Ephemeris and the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac</i></a> (Mill Valley [CA]: University Science Books, 1992) – <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.uscibooks.com/seid.htm">list of errata</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210309150322/http://www.uscibooks.com/seid.htm">Archived</a> 2021-03-09 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Astronomical_Almanac&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://aa.usno.navy.mil/publications/asa"><i>The Astronomical Almanac</i> (official publication at U.S. Naval Observatory website)</a></li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://asa.hmnao.com/"><i>The Astronomical Almanac Online</i> (official publication online at Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office website)</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221111194311/http://asa.hmnao.com/">Archived</a> 2022-11-11 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></li></ul> <!-- NewPP limit report Parsed by mw‐web.codfw.main‐f69cdc8f6‐6kzj2 Cached time: 20241122153352 Cache expiry: 2592000 Reduced expiry: false Complications: [vary‐revision‐sha1, show‐toc] CPU time usage: 0.185 seconds Real time usage: 0.282 seconds Preprocessor visited node count: 850/1000000 Post‐expand include size: 14008/2097152 bytes Template argument size: 1248/2097152 bytes Highest expansion depth: 16/100 Expensive parser function count: 1/500 Unstrip recursion depth: 1/20 Unstrip post‐expand size: 11556/5000000 bytes Lua time usage: 0.100/10.000 seconds Lua memory usage: 2861006/52428800 bytes Number of Wikibase entities loaded: 1/400 --> <!-- Transclusion expansion time report (%,ms,calls,template) 100.00% 259.078 1 -total 34.28% 88.813 1 Template:Short_description 29.12% 75.455 1 Template:Reflist 19.98% 51.775 1 Template:More_citations_needed 18.58% 48.137 1 Template:Ambox 17.58% 45.546 5 Template:Main_other 17.22% 44.623 2 Template:ISBN 16.47% 42.662 1 Template:SDcat 13.46% 34.862 2 Template:Pagetype 13.35% 34.599 2 Template:Catalog_lookup_link --> <!-- Saved in parser cache with key enwiki:pcache:idhash:7082456-0!canonical and timestamp 20241122153352 and revision id 1258412596. 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