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Originally Posted by supernova1965
Looks great and I think will be a very useful reference tool now I will need some education to be able to use it to its full potential. I hope that you get heaps of contributions and few NAYSAYERS.   |
I agree. The ephemeris is just an example of core information for such a document, as the data changes year to year for a planetary ephemeris. Once done, the remaining additions are only open to the imagination.
Other information can also be included that can totally unrelated to planets. A true beauty of a "diary" is that really anything could go into it, deep-sky objects or say variable or double stars to observe each month.
Another alternative is perhaps a number of selected objects, married with observations and images from contributors each month. Better still, once done, it is available perpetually
It is interesting to note, the reason why I haven't added Moon Phase or Sunrise and sunset, is because it appears in the sidebar of this very page. There is no need to have that data - its at your fingertips now! One good option is to have a simple graphic that covers the entire year, works for any latitude, and whose precision is around 5 minutes. This is one page, instead of having pages and pages of tables. (The question becomes what ACTUALLY need the sunrise data for? For most purposes, knowing it to the precise second is not important. Knowing to a few minutes is only required for, say, taking an image of the sunrise. Again, what do observers want? )
Of course, explaining phenomena and data could also be part of the publication. It could include the brightest and nearest stars, the names of the brightest stars, 50 best southern variable stars.
In the end, what do people actually want here?
