Abstract
UNTIL 1940 each of the principal almanacs in various countries published the apparent places of a different selection of stars, the places of which were not even, always referred to the same fundamental system. In addition, the number of stars for which the apparent places were given in any one almanac was insufficient. As a result of discussions at the International Astronomical Union in 1932, 1935 and 1938, it was decided that the Third Fundamental Catalogue of the “Berliner Jahrbuch” should be used as the fundamental catalogue for apparent places of stars in all ephemerides. It was further recommended that the apparent places of all the stars in that Catalogue should be published in a single volume, the calculations being carried out by France, Germany, Spain and the United States, Great Britain undertaking the printing. The first volume appeared in 1941, and subsequent issues have retained practically the same format except for temporary omissions owing to war-time difficulties. The late appearance of the 1947 volume, which should have been published in May 1946, is exceptional.
Apparent Places of Fundamental Stars, 1947 Containing the 1535 Stars in the Third Fundamental Catalogue (FK3) of the Berliner Jahrbuch.
(Published by Order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.) Pp. xxxii + 538. (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1946.) 42s. net.
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DAVIDSON, M. Star Positions. Nature 160, 519 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160519a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160519a0