| Edition | Year | Editor(s) | Significance | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | 1961 | — | Originally published as Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Ephemeris and the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac , this edition documented the computational methods of the mid-20th century. It is freely available on the Internet Archive. | | 2nd Edition | 1992 | P. Kenneth Seidelmann | A comprehensive revision released in 1992 to address updates in theories of precession, nutation, and fundamental constants. This is the edition most commonly found in physical libraries and older legacy systems. | | 3rd Edition | 2013 | Sean E. Urban & P. Kenneth Seidelmann | The current, most advanced edition. It accounts for the replacement of the FK5 optical frame with the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) tied to extragalactic radio sources, the impact of the Hipparcos satellite, and the adoption of new precession and nutation theories. |
The Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac is available for download in PDF format from various online sources, including the United States Naval Observatory and the International Astronomical Union. | Edition | Year | Editor(s) | Significance