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The forwarded message below is from the HASTRO-L mailing list. One
interesting paragraph from the article:

"Throughout the 1930s, the British Nautical Almanac included detailed
explanations, and by the end of that decade each volume was almost 1000
pages. Although the explanations were of value to many astronomers, much
of this information was unnecessary to the daily user of the
publication, and there were complaints regarding the books being
unwieldy. Cutting the size of the yearly almanac by providing a more
permanent explanatory supplement was under consideration at Her
Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (HMNAO) when World War II began. At that
time, “a drastic cut was imposed on the overall size of subsequent
editions by the exigencies of war” (Nautical Almanac Offices of UK and USA
1961). The preface to the 1942 almanac describes separating the
ephemeral material from the permanent data and explanations, and also
states, “It is possible that publication of the Supplement will be
delayed for some time.” In fact, it did not get published for 20 more
years."


-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: [HASTRO-L] Historical Reflections on the Work of IAU Commission
4 (Ephemerides)
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 10:31:53 +0000
Reply-To: History of Astronomy Discussion Group 
To: HASTRO-L@listserv.wvu.edu


   http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.01546

Historical Reflections on the Work of IAU Commission 4 (Ephemerides)

George H. Kaplan, John A. Bangert, Agnes Fienga, William Folkner,
Catherine Hohenkerk, Marina Lukashova, Elena V. Pitjeva, P. Kenneth
Seidelmann, Michael Sveshnikov, Sean Urban, Jan Vondrak, Julia
Weratschnig, James G. Williams (Submitted on 4 Nov 2015)

As part of a reorganization of the International Astronomical Union
(IAU), Commission 4 (Ephemerides) went out of existence after the IAU
General Assembly in August 2015. This paper presents brief discussions
of some of the developments in fundamental astronomy that have
influenced and been influenced by the work of Commission 4 over its
96-year history. The paper also presents notes about some of the
publications of the national institutions that have played an essential
role in the commission's mission. The contents of this paper were
submitted for Commission 4's final report, to appear in IAU Transactions
Vol. XXIX-A.

   

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