For Signs and for Seasons
The motions of the heavens and the conventions we use to describe them.
ReadAlexander Ferrari Miller
Text and Stories
The ideas, experiences, and questions behind the Star Almanack.
Read the existing manuscripts in sequence, or choose a piece below. These texts retain their original wording, including earlier descriptions of features and working calculation notes.
Open the reconstructed Front Matter for the collected opening material, symbol key, conventions, and recovery notes.
Opening and reader’s guide
How to Use This Almanack
The existing introduction to dates, symbols, charts, and observing.
ReadStories
My Libra Birthday Disappointment
The question that led to the Almanack: what can I actually go outside and see tonight?
ReadThe Parable of the Two Rabbis
Two travelers, two calendars, and the need for a common convention.
ReadThe Argument with Neil deGrasse Tyson
An imagined argument about midnight, 9 PM, and the intended observer.
ReadWhat Century Was My Grandmother Born In?
A family birth date, calendar changes, clock conventions, and an unanswered question.
ReadThe Most Ordinary Day Throughout the World
One deliberately ordinary instant, expressed by many clocks and dates.
ReadReference text
The Mathematics of the Star Almanack: A Bowl of Jell-O
How best visibility was discovered and tested, and why Earth’s rotation complicates eclipse predictions.
ReadMoon Names
The retained seasonal naming rules and calculation notes.
Read