''The American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac'' was published for the years 1855 to 1980, containing information necessary for astronomers, surveyors, and navigators. It was based on the original British publication, '' The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris'', with which it merged to form ''

The Astronomical Almanac ''The Astronomical Almanac''The ''Astronomical Almanac'' for the Year 2015, (United States Naval Observatory/Nautical Almanac Office, 2014) . is an almanac published by the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) and His Majesty's Nautical Almanac ...

'', published from the year 1981 to the present.

History

Authorized by Congress in 1849, the American Nautical Almanac Office was founded and attached to the

Department of the Navy Navy Department or Department of the Navy may refer to: * United States Department of the Navy, * Navy Department (Ministry of Defence), in the United Kingdom, 1964-1997 * Confederate States Department of the Navy, 1861-1865 * Department of the ...

with

Charles Henry Davis Charles Henry Davis ( – ) was an American rear admiral of the United States Navy. While working for the U.S. Coast Survey, he researched tides and currents, and located an uncharted shoal that had caused wrecks off of the coast of New Yor ...

as the first superintendent. The ''American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac'' was first published in 1852, containing data for the year 1855. Its data was originally calculated by human "computers", such as

Chauncey Wright Chauncey Wright (September 10, 1830 – September 12, 1875) was an American philosopher and mathematician, who was an influential early defender of Darwinism and an important influence on American pragmatists such as Charles Sanders Peirce and Wi ...

and Joseph Winlock. Between 1855 and 1881 it had two parts, the first for the meridian of Greenwich contained data on the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

, lunar distances,

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

, and Saturn, which was published separately as ''The American Nautical Almanac''. The second part contained data for the meridian of Washington on the Sun, Moon, planets, principal stars, eclipses,

occultation An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks ...

s, and other phenomena. Beginning in 1882, data for Mercury,

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus ( Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars), grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter) and father of ...

, and Neptune was added to the first part, with eclipses, occultations, and other phenomena forming a separate third part. In 1916, ''The American Nautical Almanac'' ceased to be a reprint of the first part of the ''American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac'', becoming a separately prepared volume for the navigator. In 1937, the ''American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac'' was divided into seven parts, with data for the meridian of Washington substantially reduced, then eliminated beginning in 1951. Data for

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

was added in 1950.P. Kenneth Seidelmann, ed.,
Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac
' (Mill Valley, California: University Science Books, 1992) 613–615. Beginning in 1960, all parts except for a few introductory pages were jointly calculated and typeset by the American Nautical Almanac Office and Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office but published separately within ''The American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac'' and ''The Astronomical Ephemeris'', a new name for the old British title ''The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris''. Beginning in 1981, the title ''The American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac'' and the British title ''The Astronomical Ephemeris'' were completely merged under the single title ''The Astronomical Almanac''.

References

External links

History of ''The Astronomical Almanac''
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305231056/http://aa.usno.navy.mil/publications/docs/asa_history.php , date=2009-03-05 1852 establishments in Washington, D.C. American non-fiction books Publications established in 1852 United States Naval Observatory Astronomical almanacs Publications disestablished in 1980 1980 disestablishments in the United States

History

See also

References

External links