UK and USA Partner to Produce Almanacs

The move formalises the long standing collaboration between the US Naval Observatory (USNO) and the UK's HM Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO), a relationship which will shortly celebrate its 100th year. The MoU gives official recognition to the collaborative work of USNO and HMNAO and encourages both offices to ensure they retain their benchmark
standard for astronomical data.

The MoU has been signed by Rear Admiral David Titley, Commander of the US Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, and UK National Hydrographer, Rear Admiral Ian Moncrieff, and has now been formalised at a ceremonial signing at the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC by Captain Vaughan Nail, UK Deputy National Hydrographer, and Captain Steve Warren, Superintendent US Naval Observatory.

The partnership involves the joint publication of the following:

• The Astronomical Almanac: This is the flagship publication of the two offices, representing a world standard in high-precision astronomical data. It is found in observatories and on astronomer's desks around the world and is a combination of tabular data for the year for the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, their satellites and other small solar system bodies, stars as well as astronomical phenomena such as the phases of the Moon, eclipses of the Sun and Moon, principal occultations, planetary phenomena, elongations and magnitudes of the planets, times of sunrise/set, moonrise/set and times of civil, nautical and astronomical twilights. It also provides significant amounts of reference material to the astronomical user.
• The Astronomical Almanac Online: This is the web companion to The Astronomical Almanac providing a home to material better suited to presentation on the web and for downloading by users. It is mirrored by both offices (http://asa.usno.navy.mil and http://asa.hmnao.com).
• The Nautical Almanac: This is the essential yearly reference work for celestial navigation at sea using a marine sextant and for other simple navigational purposes e.g. gyro checks at sunrise and sunset. It is carried on every ship of the Royal Navy and the US Navy and on many sea-going vessels around the world. It is also at the core of celestial navigation training courses worldwide. It is the principal backup to Global Positioning Systems and has provided information to mariners since 1767.
• Astronomical Phenomena: This publication provides a summary of astronomical events two years ahead of the publication of the corresponding edition of The Astronomical Almanac. It contains Section A of that publication in addition to the equation of time, the declination of the Sun and the Greenwich hour angles of the pole stars Polaris and s Octantis.
• U.S. Air Almanac: This CD-based publication provides information needed for celestial navigation in the air providing similar information to The Nautical Almanac but produced at 10 minute intervals rather than hourly. Since 1998, the UK has its own version of this publication produced to the specifications of the Royal Air Force known as the UK Air Almanac.

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