An ephemeris (plural: ephemerides, pronounced Eff-uh-MERR-i-Deez) is defined to be a tabular listing of the position of a celestial body at regular intervals. Throughout history scientifically observant cultures have sought to understand and predict celestial phenomena, most notably the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets.
Any effort to establish an ephemeris involves the development of some sort of mathematical model which reproduces past and current observations. This model is then evaluated at regular extrapolated intervals to obtain the desired predicted positions. The models devised by ancient astronomers consisted of elaborate systems of what were termed epicycles, wherein the Sun and planets were attached to a hierarchy of circles. The center of each of these circles rode on another circle, and the entire system ultimately was assumed to have the Earth as its center. Despite this unwieldy complexity the system described celestial motions with fair success over short periods,...
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Newhall, X.X. (1997). Ephemeris . In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Science. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4520-4_132
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