For over 150 years the United States Nautical Almanac Office has published The Nautical Almanac, first as part of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, and then on its own, to provide the US Navy with a convenient form of the astronomical data used for celestial navigation. This book is still the standard resource for marine celestial navigation for the U.S. Navy. The book is produced in collaboration with Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office, part of the U.K. Hydrographic Office. That Office maintains the copyright on the material it produces.

The Nautical Almanac contains the following data tabulated at hourly intervals to a precision of 0.1 arcminute: the Greenwich hour angle and declination of the Sun, Moon, and navigational planets; the Greenwich hour angle of Aries; positions of the navigational stars; rise and set times of the Sun and Moon for a range of latitudes; and other data. Each edition also contains a sight reduction table; sight reduction formulas; and various correction tables for sight reduction. There is a useful concise sight reduction form at the back of the book. The Nautical Almanac is available several months in advance of its edition date.