Almanacs assured a bright future

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A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been agreed between the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) and the United States Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command to ensure the future production of such flagship publications as The Astronomical Almanac and The Nautical Almanac.


An officer of the watch is pictured using a star globe for celestial navigation. The globe is used in conjunction with a sextant to help plot the ship's position using the main constellations in the night sky aided by The Nautical Almanac
[Picture: LA (Phot) Jon Hamlet]

The signing of the agreement, formalised at a ceremonial signing at the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC, ensures that the UK/US partnership continues working successfully into the future. The move also 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 UKHO, which is part of the Ministry of Defence, has been charting the world's oceans for more than 200 years with the primary aim of providing navigational services for the Royal Navy and merchant mariners to save and protect lives at sea. In addition the organisation also serves small craft and leisure mariners and provides a range of consultancy services.

This 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 agreement was signed by Rear Admiral David Titley, Commander of the US Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, and UK National Hydrographer, Rear Admiral Ian Moncrieff.
Rear Admiral Moncrieff said:

"The MoU commits both organisations to maintain their shared expertise in publicising ephemeris data in a way that neither office would be capable of maintaining individually. It also clarifies matters such as Intellectual Property and the commercial use of data making both offices better able to meet the needs of their users."

And Rear Admiral Titley added:

"The US Navy's Oceanography Programme is committed to fostering deep and mutually satisfying relationships, such as this one, which allow us to leverage and develop capabilities at a shared cost."

The Nautical Almanac 2009
[Picture: HMNAO]

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 eg 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 Sigma Octantis.

US 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 ten 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.

The UKHO produces a worldwide series of some 3,300 paper nautical charts and 220 publications under the Admiralty brand and has a growing portfolio of Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs). These charts are sold globally and used by nearly 70 per cent of international shipping. The organisation also plays a central role, in support of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, in discharging the navigation element of the UK's Safety of Life at Sea Treaty obligations for waters of UK national responsibility.

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