Greatest Brilliancy ==> Greatest Illuminated Extent

Remember the discussion here in s.a.a. some years ago about the definition
of "Greatest Brilliancy" and how relevant that quantity is and when
Venus really is brightest, and what "brilliancy" might mean. There was also
an article in Sky and Telescope about that subject around that time.

Perhaps the USNO was influenced by that discussion. Anyway, starting
in the 2005 edition of the Astronomical Almanac, the phrase "Greatest
Brilliancy" has been replaced by the more accurate phrase "Greatest
Illuminated Extent".

The quantity itself is unchanged though.


--
Paul Schlyter, Grev Turegatan 40, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pausch at saaf dot se
WWW: http://stjarnhimlen.se/

Paul Schlyter wrote:
Perhaps the USNO was influenced by that discussion. Anyway, starting
in the 2005 edition of the Astronomical Almanac, the phrase "Greatest
Brilliancy" has been replaced by the more accurate phrase "Greatest
Illuminated Extent".

Mark Wagner will be *soooo* pleased.

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
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