Publications Index

Observer's Handbook Updates

2010 Edition

The following corrections have been noted:

• On page 53: The four leftmost italic labels on the diagonal lines
  that read 16, 18, 20, and 22 should read 14, 16, 18, and 20. 

• On pages 85-86: The diameters given for the figures are correct.
  The labels on the rest of the circles all need to be cut in half. Thus on the 8° diameter circle,
  the outermost circle should be labelled as 4° as that is the radius of the circle.

• On page 141: in the columns Sun Alt and Sun Azm, the correct values are as follows:

		Sun	Sun
Location		Alt	Azm
-----------	-------------------	-----	-----
Cook Islands	Mangaia	14	59
Easter Island	Hanga Roa	40	346
French Polynesia	Tatakoto	36	45

• On page 162: Second paragraph, last line, replace "Mars" with "Venus".

• On page 183: Jun. 2 line in the table, Greenwich Transit should be 11:57:58  (not 11:55:58).

• On page 211: The elongations for Mercury for should be:  Apr. 9 19°; Apr.14: 18°

• On page 213: In the text, Aug. 19 should be Aug. 20; Oct. 28 should be Oct. 29.

• On page 124: first paragraph, third line from the bottom.–3.9 should be –4.0.

• On page 236: The following events were accidentally duplicated from the 2009 edition:

• Dec 24 13:49 I ShI, 15:04 I TrE, 16:05 I ShE
• Dec 25 9:54 I OcD, 13:14 I EcR, 20:32 II TrI, 22:36 II ShI, 23:25 II TrE
• Dec 26 1:29 II ShE, 7:17 I TrI, 8:18 I ShI, 9:34 I TrE, 10:34 I ShE, 19:02 III TrI, 22:40 III TrE, 23:12 III ShI
• Dec 27 2:45 III ShE, 4:24 I OcD, 7:43 I EcR, 15:43 II OcD, 20:38 II EcR
• Dec 28 1:47 I TrI, 2:47 I ShI, 4:04 I TrE, 5:03 I ShE, 22:54 I OcD
• Dec 29 2:02 IV OcD, 2:12 I EcR, 6:44 IV OcR, 9:56 II TrI, 11:31 IV EcD, 11:55 II ShI, 12:49 II TrE, 14:48 II ShE, 15:49
  IV EcR, 20:17 I TrI, 21:16 I ShI, 22:34 I TrE, 23:32 I ShE
• Dec 30 9:06 III OcD, 12:44 III OcR, 13:04 III EcD, 16:39 III EcR, 17:25 I OcD, 20:41 I EcR
• Dec 31 5:07 II OcD, 9:56 II EcR, 14:47 I TrI, 15:44 I ShI, 17:04 I TrE, 18:01 I ShE

This also means that the final sentence on page 230 should read:

A total of 2340 events, (422 eclipses, 414 occultations, 750 transits, and 754 shadow)

appear in the table, an average of one every 3 h 45 min.

To report other corrections or to make suggestions for improvement, please send an email message to Handbook Editor.

Errata in Previous Editions

• 2009 Edition - The following corrections have been noted to the 2009 edition:
• p. 23:
  • Mars ... Correction ... 282.40087 then ... 359.9484
  • The first value for the longitude at epoch for Saturn is incorrect. The correct value for 4840.5 should be 160.4377.
  • The second value for the longitude at epoch for Neptune is incorrect. The correct value for 4988.5 should be 325.4355.
• p. 35: The Magnitude section reference should be to p. 59, not p. 50.
• p. 37: The reference to Planck's Constant should be p.34, not p.36.
• p. 37: The reference to the octave of visible light wavelengths should be p. 36, not p. 32.
• p. 44: The reference for the calculation of LMST should be p. 50, not p. 49.
• p. 63: The reference to te notation of MxD should be p. 54, not p.53.
• p. 85: The 2=B0 circle for the north celestial pole should have the same scale seen in the 2=B0 circle for the south celestial pole.
• p. 108: The reference in the Moon section to an occultation being visible should be removed.
• p. 109: The daggered footnote should read: NE Africa, SE Europe, Middle East, Arabia, India, S China, SE Asia, N Philippines.
• p. 113: The Jupiter satellites for July is a shifted copy of the one for June. The corrected July page is here: PDF.
• p. 163: In the second-last paragraph, the reference should be to pp. 100-122, not pp. 96-118.
• p. 170: The table that is referred to as being on p.162 is, in fact, the table immediately below.
• p. 188: In the first line of each subsection. the table referred to is opposite, not overleaf.
• p. 188: The reference in the sundial correction should be to p. 208, not p. 195.
• p. 232: The table with data on the brighter satellites of Uranus: The data for Arial and Umbrial appear to be correct, but the data for Titania and Oberon are a repeat of that for Arial and Umbrial.
• p. 234: The diameter of Pluto should be 2390 km.
• p. 234: 6 Sagittarius should be 6 Sagitarii.
• p. 273: The reference for times of twilight should be p. 213, not p. 200.
• p. 283: Delta Sco, the last star in the table, should have a distance of 400 light-years, not 520.
• p. 296: Cor Carolis should be Cor Caroli.
• p. 319: The RA for Object 68 (NGC 4274) should be 12, not 2.
• p. 326: In the final paragraph, the internal page references should be p. 313 (not 286) and p. 305 (not p. 247).
• p. 355: The correct page number for Theodoric of Freiberg should be 198.

• 2008 Edition - The following corrections have been noted to the 2008 edition:
• On p. 4, Arne Henden is in Massachusetts, not Maryland
• On p. 5, Brian Marsden and Elizabeth Waagen are in Massachusetts, not Maryland
• On p. 16, change the link to ALPO (Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers) to www.alpo-astronomy.org
• On p. 23:
  • The values for the longitude at epoch for Jupiter are incorrect. The correct value for 4480.5 should be 278.2825 and the value for 4699.5 should be.296.4815.
  • The values for the longitude at epoch for Pluto are incorrect. The correct value for 4480.5 should be 250.5981 and the value for 4699.5 should be.251.5376.
• On p. 75, the Mid-South Star Gaze is in Mississippi not Michigan.
• On p. 105, between 3:51 and 4:10 UT, all four Jovian satellites will be visible
• On p. 127, the date of the lunar eclipse is 2008 August 16.
• On p. 179, change the line date of Mar. 25 to Mar. 24
• On p. 202, reverse the headings "morning" and "evening"
• On p. 269, the magnitudes given for gamma Ari should be 3.8, 4.5, and 4.6.
• On p. 302, the page reference in the sixth line should be "(p. 303)"
• On p. 304, the page reference at the end of Note 1 should be "(see p. 298)"
• On p. 322, the index should read "Meteors, 232
  radio detection of, 235
  showers table, 234"

• 2007 Edition - The following corrections have been noted to the 2007 edition:
• On p. 8, the URL for Mont Mégantic Observatory—Mont Mégantic, Québec should be www.astro.umontreal.ca/omm.
• On p. 8, the URL for I.K. Williamson Observatory—Montréal, Québec should be www.rascmontreal.org.
• On p. 10, the URL for Planetarium de Montréal—Montréal, Québec should be www.planetarium.montreal.qc.ca
• On p. 20, in the footnote for Neptune, Psamathe's correct designation is "2003 N1"
• On p. 99 and 103, the dates given for the Zodiacal Light should be September 10 and November 7, respectively.
• On p. 238, the magnitudes given for Epsilon Boötes should be 2.6, 4.8, and 2.5 combined (actually 2.58, 4.81, and 2.52).
• On p. 29, change the URL to physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/index.html
• On p. 156, use the URL www.lau.chs-shc.gc.ca
• 1979: Corrections
• 1963: Corrections
• 1959:
  • The dates of the minima of Algol are one day early, commencing with the entry for Sun. Nov. 22, and continuing for the rest of the year (pages 53 and 55). Thus Algol will be at minimum on Nov. 20 at 14:01, Nov. 23 at 10:50, Nov. 26 at 7:39 and so on.
    It is to be noted that the numerical values of the time are correct, but that the minima occur a day later than listed for the last three entries of November and all of December. [Ref]
• 1948: Corrections.
• 1938: page 51.
• 1936:
  • A slight error on page 64 was noticed just too late for correction. It is stated at the top of the page that the forty stars in the table are contained within a volumed of 125 cubice parsecs. This should be 524 cubic parsecs, or one star to th irteen cubic parsecs. [Ref]
  • An error on page 64...The absolute magnitude M, of the star Ross 248, should be changed from 14.3 to read 16.3, and the luinosity L, from 0.0002 to 0.00002 times that of the Sun. [Ref]
  • Supposed error in the 1936 Handbook
• 1931:
  • On page 71, line 10, after the word "respectively" add "and change the sign." [Ref]
• 1907:
  • Errata (JRASC)
  • 1907: On page 7, 360° should be 330°; on page 45, 0.75 should be 0.075 (Bishop, 2009).