Berlin Astronomical Yearbook
The Berlin Astronomical Yearbook (abbreviated BAJ ) is almost 200 years old and is the longest series of publications in astronomy . In 1960, according to an IAU resolution, its contents were included in two internationally published yearbooks: the Astronomical Ephemeris (for bodies of the solar system) and the Apparent Places of Fundamental Stars of the fundamental stars .
The yearbook was a compendium of data from astrometry and the solar system and was last about 500 pages long. It was founded in 1774 by Johann Heinrich Lambert and Johann Elert Bode and appeared from the year 1776, after Lambert's death in 1777 from Bode alone until 1826. In addition to astronomical tables, it contained an extensive appendix in which scientific articles by various authors as well as reports of more recent work and reports of discovery were printed. This is how the BAJ became an important communication tool for the international astronomical community. After the reorganization by Johann Franz Encke and the reduction to astronomical tables, the yearbook appeared up to and including 1959 and was also the organ in which the first globally designed fundamental catalog was published in 1907 (see also FK4 1963 and FK6 1999/2000).
Since the 1940s it has been published in cooperation with the Heidelberger Jahrbuch ( Astronomisch-Geodätisches Jahrbuch ) of the computer institute in Heidelberg , which, like other national yearbooks, also merged in an international cooperation in 1959.
In addition to other famous astronomers, the multiple asteroid discoverer Robert Luther took part in the orbital calculations for the planetary ephemeris of the BAJ , especially from 1849. The 120-time asteroid discoverer Johann Palisa ( University Observatory Vienna ) also contributed , who also contributed a star catalog of 1200 fundamental stars from ten-year observations in 1892.
Web links
- Astronomisches Rechen-Institut Heidelberg ( ARI ): Overview of the editions of the Berlin Astronomical Yearbook