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44-563: The British Almanac was an almanac published from 1828 until 1914 in London , United Kingdom by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge . For the given year, each volume contained a ' calendar of remarkable days and terms', 'anniversaries of great events, and of the births and deaths of eminent men', 'remarks on the weather ', ' astronomical facts and phenomena', 'a table of

88-623: A star or a planet occurs annually when it first becomes visible above the eastern horizon at dawn just before sunrise (thus becoming "the morning star ") after a complete orbit of the Earth around the Sun. Historically, the most important such rising is that of Sirius , which was an important feature of the Egyptian calendar and astronomical development . The rising of the Pleiades heralded

132-467: A brief spell of annual visibility (thus "heliacal" rising and "cosmic" setting) and the same applies as to the other polar constellations in respect of the reverse tropic. Constellations containing stars that rise and set were incorporated into early calendars or zodiacs . The Sumerians , Babylonians , Egyptians , and Greeks all used the heliacal risings of various stars for the timing of agricultural activities. Because of its position about 40° off

176-707: A series of almanacs for the years of 1792 to 1797. Currently published almanacs such as Whitaker's Almanack have expanded their scope and contents beyond that of their historical counterparts. Modern almanacs include a comprehensive presentation of statistical and descriptive data covering the entire world. Contents also include discussions of topical developments and a summary of recent historical events. Other currently published almanacs (ca. 2006) include TIME Almanac with Information Please , World Almanac and Book of Facts , The Farmer's Almanac and The Old Farmer's Almanac and The Almanac for Farmers & City Folk. The Inverness Almanac , an almanac/literary journal,

220-439: A similar goal as the ancient Babylonian almanac, to find celestial bodies. " Almanac ". New International Encyclopedia . 1905. " Almanac ". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. " Almanacs ". The New Student's Reference Work . 1914. " Almanac ". Encyclopedia Americana . 1920. Heliacal rising The heliacal rising ( / h ɪ ˈ l aɪ . ə k əl / hih- LY -ə-kəl ) of

264-467: Is around August 21 in the 2020s.) The ancient Egyptians appear to have constructed their 365-day civil calendar at a time when Wep Renpet , its New Year , corresponded with Sirius's return to the night sky. Although this calendar's lack of leap years caused the event to shift one day every four years or so, astronomical records of this displacement led to the discovery of the Sothic cycle and, later,

308-474: Is highly unlikely Roger Bacon received the word from this etymology: "Notwithstanding the suggestive sound and use of this word (of which however the real form is very uncertain), the difficulties of connecting it historically either with the Spanish Arabic manākh, or with Medieval Latin almanach without Arabic intermediation, seem insurmountable." One etymology report says "The ultimate source of

352-785: Is known to be pseudo-Arabic.) The earlier texts considered to be almanacs have been found in the Near East , dating back to the middle of the second millennium BC. They have been called generally hemerologies, from the Greek word hēmerologion , "calendar" (from hēmera , meaning "day"). Among them is the so-called Babylonian Almanac , which lists favorable and unfavorable days with advice on what to do on each of them. Successive variants and versions aimed at different readership have been found. Egyptian lists of good and bad moments, three times each day, have also been found. Many of these prognostics were connected with celestial events. The flooding of

396-705: The Julian calendar . Its returns also roughly corresponded to the onset of the annual flooding of the Nile , although the flooding is based on the tropical year and so would occur about three quarters of a day earlier per century in the Julian or Sothic year. (July 19, 1000 BC in the Julian Calendar is July 10 in the proleptic Gregorian Calendar . At that time, the sun would be somewhere near Regulus in Leo , where it

440-572: The North-American Almanack , published annually from 1771 to 1784, as well as the first American nautical almanac, The Navigator's Kalendar, or Nautical Almanack, for 1783 . Andrew Ellicott of Ellicott's Upper Mills , Maryland , authored a series of almanacs, The United States Almanack , the earliest known copy of which bears the date of 1782. Benjamin Banneker , a free African American living near Ellicott's Mills, composed

484-652: The Wapsipinicon Almanac , and the Calendari dels Pagesos , a Catalan-language almanac published in Catalonia since 1861. The GPS almanac , as part of the data transmitted by each GPS satellite, contains coarse orbit and status information for all satellites in the constellation, an ionospheric model, and information to relate GPS derived time to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Hence the GPS almanac provides

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528-816: The equator , do not rise or set. These are circumpolar stars , which are either always in the sky or never. For example, the North Star (Polaris) is not visible in Australia and the Southern Cross is not seen in Europe, because they always stay below the respective horizons. The term circumpolar is somewhat localised as between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator, the Southern polar constellations have

572-720: The 17th century, English almanacs were bestsellers, second only to the Bible; by the middle of the century, 400,000 almanacs were being produced annually (a complete listing can be found in the English Short Title Catalogue ). Until its deregulation in 1775, the Stationers' Company maintained a lucrative monopoly over almanac publication in England. Richard Allestree (not to be confused with Richard Allestree (1621/22–1681), provost of Eton College) wrote one of

616-480: The Moon has an acronycal rising, it will occur near full moon and thus, two or three times a year, a noticeable lunar eclipse . Cosmic(al) can refer to rising with sunrise or setting at sunset, or the first setting at morning twilight. Risings and settings are furthermore differentiated between apparent (the above discussed) and actual or true risings or settings. The use of the terms cosmical and acronycal

660-485: The Nile valley, a most important event in ancient Egypt, was expected to occur at the summer solstice, but as the civil calendar had exactly 365 days, over the centuries, the date was drifting in the calendar. The first heliacal rising of Sirius was used for its prediction and this practice, the observation of some star and its connecting to some event apparently spread. The Greek almanac, known as parapegma, has existed in

704-582: The beginning of the new year (around June). The Mapuche of South America called the Pleiades Ngauponi which in the vicinity of the we tripantu (Mapuche new year) will disappear by the west, lafkenmapu or ngulumapu , appearing at dawn to the East, a few days before the birth of new life in nature. Heliacal rising of Ngauponi, i.e. appearance of the Pleiades by the horizon over an hour before

748-422: The belt of the ecliptic will be visible at night for only half of the year, when it will always remain below the horizon. During the other half of the year it will appear to be above the horizon but not visible because the sunlight is too bright during the day. The star's heliacal rising will occur when the Earth has moved to a point in its orbit where the star appears on the eastern horizon at dawn. Each day after

792-480: The construction of an Arabic origin is "not satisfactory". The Oxford English Dictionary similarly says "the word has no etymon in Arabic" but indirect circumstantial evidence "points to a Spanish Arabic al-manākh ". The reason why the proposed Arabic word is speculatively spelled al-manākh is that the spelling occurred as "almanach", as well as almanac (and Roger Bacon used both spellings). The earliest use of

836-468: The duration of sunlight and moonlight', 'useful remarks of practical importance', 'directions for the management of a farm, and of a garden and orchard' and a 'miscellaneous register of information'. It was initially published in London by Baldwin and Cradock. The British Almanac was published under several titles: Almanac The etymology of the word is unclear. The earliest documented use of

880-443: The eastern sky at dawn approximately one year after its previous heliacal rising. For stars near the ecliptic , the small difference between the solar and sidereal years due to axial precession will cause their heliacal rising to recur about one sidereal year (about 365.2564 days) later, though this depends on its proper motion . For stars far from the ecliptic, the period is somewhat different and varies slowly, but in any case

924-471: The ecliptic, the heliacal risings of the bright star Sirius in Ancient Egypt occurred not over a period of exactly one sidereal year but over a period called the " Sothic year " (from "Sothis", the name for the star Sirius). The Sothic year was about a minute longer than a Julian year of 365.25 days. Since the development of civilization , this has occurred at Cairo approximately on July 19 on

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968-474: The establishment of the more accurate Julian and Alexandrian calendars . The Egyptians also devised a method of telling the time at night based on the heliacal risings of 36 decan stars , one for each 10° segment of the 360° circle of the zodiac and corresponding to the ten-day "weeks" of their civil calendar. To the Māori of New Zealand , the Pleiades are called Matariki , and their heliacal rising signifies

1012-706: The first center in the colonies for the annual publication of almanacs, to be followed by Philadelphia during the first half of the eighteenth century. Nathaniel Ames of Dedham, Massachusetts , issued his popular Astronomical Diary and Almanack in 1725 and annually after c.  1732 . James Franklin published The Rhode Island Almanack by "Poor Robin" for each year from 1728 to 1735. James' brother, Benjamin Franklin , published his annual Poor Richard's Almanack in Philadelphia from 1732 to 1758. Samuel Stearns of Paxton, Massachusetts , issued

1056-547: The first modern examples. Copies of 12th century almanacs are found in the British Museum, and in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. In 1300, Petrus de Dacia created an almanac (Savilian Library, Oxford) the same year Roger Bacon, OFM, produced his own. In 1327 Walter de Elvendene created an almanac and later on John Somers of Oxford, in 1380. In 1386 Nicholas de Lynne, Oxford produced an almanac. In 1457

1100-632: The first printed almanac was published at Mainz, by Gutenberg (eight years before the famous Bible). Regio-Montanus produced an almanac in 1472 (Nuremberg, 1472), which continued in print for several centuries. In 1497 the Sheapheard's Kalendar , translated from French ( Richard Pynson ) became the first almanac to be printed in English. By the second half of the 16th century, yearly almanacs were being produced in England by authors such as Anthony Askham, Thomas Buckminster, John Dade and Gabriel Frende. In

1144-459: The form of an inscribed stone on which the days of the month were indicated by movable pegs inserted into bored holes, hence the name. There were also written texts and according to Diogenes Laërtius , Parapegma was the title of a book by Democritus . Ptolemy , the Alexandrian astronomer (2nd century) wrote a treatise, Phaseis —"phases of fixed stars and collection of weather-changes" is

1188-461: The future in the divination sense. Early almanacs therefore contained general horoscopes , as well as natural information. An example is the folded almanac Western MS.8932 (Wellcome Collection, London), produced in England between 1387 and 1405, is a calendar with astrological tables and diagrams used by medical practitioners to harness astrological information relating to health. In 1150 Solomon Jarchus created such an almanac considered to be among

1232-421: The heliacal rising will move all the way through the zodiac in about 26,000 years due to precession of the equinoxes . Because the heliacal rising depends on the observation of the object, its exact timing can be dependent on weather conditions. Heliacal phenomena and their use throughout history have made them useful points of reference in archeoastronomy . Some stars, when viewed from latitudes not at

1276-450: The heliacal rising, the star will rise slightly earlier and remain visible for longer before the light from the rising sun overwhelms it. Over the following days the star will move further and further westward (about one degree per day) relative to the Sun, until eventually it is no longer visible in the sky at sunrise because it has already set below the western horizon. This is called the acronycal setting . The same star will reappear in

1320-491: The more popular English almanacs, producing yearly volumes from 1617 to 1643, but his is by no means the earliest or the longest-running almanac. Works that satirized this type of publication appeared in the late 1500s. During the next century, a writer using the pseudonym of "Poor Richard, Knight of the Burnt Island" began to publish a series of such parodies that were entitled Poor Robin's Almanack . The 1664 issue of

1364-419: The other hand risings and settings in the evenings and the mornings are only at the equator set apart by half a year. Relative to the stars, the Sun appears to drift eastward about one degree per day along a path called the ecliptic because there are 360 degrees in any complete revolution (circle), which takes about 365 days in the case of one revolution of the Earth around the Sun. Any given "distant" star in

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1408-487: The past. Parapegmata had been composed for centuries. Ptolemy believed that astronomical phenomena caused the changes in seasonal weather; his explanation of why there was not an exact correlation of these events was that the physical influences of other heavenly bodies also came into play. Hence for him, weather prediction was a special division of astrology . Surviving Roman menologia rustica combined schedules of solar information and agricultural activities throughout

1452-532: The sense that "the entries found in the almanacs give directly the positions of the celestial bodies and need no further computation", in contrast to the more common "auxiliary astronomical tables" based on Ptolemy's Almagest . The earliest known almanac in this modern sense is the Almanac of Azarqueil written in 1088 by Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī (Latinized as Arzachel) in Toledo , al-Andalus . The work provided

1496-769: The series stated: "This month we may expect to hear of the Death of some Man, Woman, or Child, either in Kent or Christendom." The first almanac printed in the Thirteen Colonies of British America was William Pierce's 1639 An Almanac Calculated for New England . The almanac was the first in a series of such publications that Stephen Daye , or Day, printed each year until 1649 in Cambridge, Massachusetts . The Cambridge/ Boston area in Massachusetts soon became

1540-461: The start of the Ancient Greek sailing season, using celestial navigation , as well as the farming season (attested by Hesiod in his Works and Days ). Heliacal rising is one of several types of risings and settings, mostly they are grouped into morning and evening risings and settings of objects in the sky. Culmination in the evening and then morning is set apart by half a year, while on

1584-472: The sun approximately 12 days before the winter solstice, announced we tripantu . When a planet has a heliacal rising, there is a conjunction with the sun beforehand. Depending on the type of conjunction, there may be a syzygy , eclipse , transit , or occultation of the sun. The rising of a planet above the eastern horizon at sunset is called its acronycal rising , which for a superior planet signifies an opposition , another type of syzygy . When

1628-538: The time of the word's emergence in the West, together with the absence of the word in Arabic, suggest it may have been invented in the West and is pseudo-Arabic. At that time in the West, it would have been prestigious to attach an Arabic appellation to a set of astronomical tables. Also around that time, prompted by that motive, the Latin writer Pseudo-Geber wrote under an Arabic pseudonym. (The later alchemical word alkahest

1672-433: The translation of its full title—the core of which is a parapegma , a list of dates of seasonally regular weather changes, first appearances and last appearances of stars or constellations at sunrise or sunset, and solar events such as solstices , all organized according to the solar year. With the astronomical computations were expected weather phenomena, composed as a digest of observations made by various authorities of

1716-526: The true daily positions of the sun, moon and planets for four years from 1088 to 1092, as well as many other related tables. A Latin translation and adaptation of the work appeared as the Tables of Toledo in the 12th century and the Alfonsine tables in the 13th century. After almanacs were devised, people still saw little difference between predicting the movements of the stars and tides, and predicting

1760-654: The word in something like its current sense is in Latin in 1267. Roger Bacon used it to mean a set of tables detailing movements of heavenly bodies including the Moon. It has been suggested that the word almanac derives from a Greek word meaning calendar . However, that word appears only once in antiquity, by Eusebius who quotes Porphyry as to the Coptic Egyptian use of astrological charts ( almenichiaká ). The earliest almanacs were calendars that included agricultural, astronomical, or meteorological data. But it

1804-472: The word is obscure. Its first syllable, al-, and its general relevance to medieval science and technology, strongly suggest an Arabic origin, but no convincing candidate has been found". Ernest Weekley similarly states of almanac : "First seen in Roger Bacon. Apparently from Spanish Arabic, al-manakh , but this is not an Arabic word....The word remains a puzzle." Walter William Skeat concludes that

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1848-457: The word was in the context of astronomy calendars. The Arabic word المناخ al-munākh has different meanings in contemporary Arabic than in classical Arabic usage. The word originally meant "the place where camels kneel [so riders and baggage can disembark]". In contemporary Arabic, the word means "climate". The prestige of the Tables of Toledo and other medieval Arabic astronomy works at

1892-704: The year with the months' tutelary deities and major festivals . By the imperial period , each month was headed with illustrations of its chief astrological signs , matching Roman geoponical tracts that often combined guidance for the proper conditions for different activities with the stars present during that period rather than using the civil calendar . The origins of the almanac can be connected to ancient Babylonian astronomy , when tables of planetary periods were produced in order to predict lunar and planetary phenomena. Similar treatises called Zij were later composed in medieval Islamic astronomy . The modern almanac differs from Babylonian, Ptolemaic and Zij tables in

1936-938: Was published in West Marin, California, from 2015 to 2016. In 2007, Harrowsmith Country Life Magazine launched a Canadian Almanac, written in Canada, with all-Canadian content. The nonprofit agrarian organization the Greenhorns currently publishes The New Farmer's Almanac as a resource for young farmers. Major topics covered by almanacs (reflected by their tables of contents) include: geography , government , demographics , agriculture , economics and business , health and medicine , religion , mass media , transportation , science and technology , sport , and awards / prizes . Other examples include The Almanac of American Politics published by Columbia Books & Information Services , The Almanac of British Politics ,

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