Astronomical yearbook
An astronomical yearbook or almanac is an annually published book in which all the astronomical events that take place in the following year and / or the chronological sequence of the planets or star locations are listed.
In the last few decades many of the yearbooks published in individual countries have been merged into international publications. Today they are not always (or only partially) published as printed works, but also published on the Internet .
Content
With these ephemeris of the most important celestial bodies , the length and accuracy of the tables depends on the intended use and the desired efficiency when interpolating between the columns or rows. The most important parameter here is the panel interval , which is usually
- is between 1 hour and 1 day for the moon ,
- 1 to 10 days for the Sun and Mercury
- for Venus , Mars and minor planets 5 to 20 days
- about 10 to 30 days for Jupiter , Saturn and the outer planets
- and for the fundamental stars 1 to 10 days.
The arguments (points in time) of the tabulated coordinates refer either to terrestrial time (sun, planets) or to approximate world time , for which fractions of a day are also common. Fundamental stars are often tabulated according to their Greenwich culmination so that the table intervals correspond to 1 or 10 sidereal days .
Astronomical yearbooks can be designed internationally (e.g. for scientific astrometry ) or for a specific region (especially for amateur astronomers ).
In addition to the tabular data, an astronomical yearbook usually also contains information about solar and lunar eclipses as well as star coverages (by the moon and planets) and an introduction to the scientific principles. Many works also give observation hints, especially for rare celestial phenomena . Astronomical yearbooks for the general public generally only deal with the astronomical events observable in the country of publication; many daily newspapers take over the most important announcements in the form of a monthly overview .
Widespread astronomical yearbooks
Well-known examples of astronomical yearbooks are:
Professional astronomy
- Nautical Almanac International, for astronomical navigation and for approximate astro-geodetic calculations (celestial places to 0.1 ′ accuracy)
- Astronomical Almanac - the official yearbook of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and IUGG since 1960
- Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch , its predecessor (1776–1960) - the first high-precision astro-geodetic yearbook ( star locations to 0.01 ″, planets to 0.1 ″)
- Astronomical-Geodetic Yearbook (“Heidelberger Jahrbuch”, until 1959) with a focus on geodesy
- Connaissance des temps , France, has been published since 1679
- Astronomitscheski Jeschegodnik , Russia, has been published since 1921.
Amateur astronomy
- Himmelsjahr , Kosmos-Verlag
- The starry sky ( known as “ Naef ” in Switzerland ), Kosmos-Verlag
- Austrian Celestial Calendar , Vienna Astronomical Office
- Calendar for Sternfreunde (GDR 1948–1990), short name Ahnert, today as Ahnert's Astronomical Yearbook published by SuW-Verlag Heidelberg.
Individual evidence
- ↑ United States Naval Observatory (ed.): The Astronomical Almanac for the year 2009 . US Government Printing Office, 2007, ISBN 978-0-11-887342-0 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).