Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21547502b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #475.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.522
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The Astronomical Almanac (AsA) Online website (http://asa.usno.navy.mil/ and http://asa.hmnao.com/), a joint project between the Nautical Almanac Office (NAO) at the US Naval Observatory and Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO) at the UK Hydrographic Office, began as a supplement to the printed Astronomical Almanac. The original intent of the AsA Online was to provide data in text form for machine parsing, datasets no longer published in the book but still needed by some users, a list of errata as they become known, and a means for user feedback.
For the past few years we have looked at how to improve the AsA Online by presenting additional data with methods not available in a printed book. Starting with the proof-of-concept observatory search--designed to add a dynamic element to the data from the observatory section while still maintaining the look of printed pages in the AsA--we have added: maps for lunar occultations of the planets, many minor planets, and bright stars (supplementing the Phenomena section); a table on the main page of the website that presents entries from the Diary of Phenomena for two weeks into the future; a utility for finding the geocentric coordinates of the planets (supplementing Section E); searches for some tables found in Section H (Stars), allowing users to filter the data and print a subset of the entries for ease-of-use; and a Delta T: Past, Present and Future feature updated multiple times per year.
In the future, we plan to increase the amount of information on the AsA Online by adding more filterable datasets from the book, new ways of visualizing information, and options to download data in machine-friendly XML, while still maintaining the website as a complement to the printed Astronomical Almanac.
Barron Eric G.
Bell Aaron S.
Hohenkerk Catherine Y.
Stewart Susan G.
Urban Sean E.
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