The
Prutenic Tables ( from
Prutenia meaning "Prussia", ), were an
ephemeris (astronomical tables) by the astronomer
Erasmus Reinhold published in 1551. They are sometimes called the
Prussian Tables after
Albert I, Duke of Prussia, who supported Reinhold and financed the printing. Reinhold calculated this new set of astronomical tables based on
Nicolaus Copernicus'
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, the epochal exposition of
Copernican heliocentrism published in 1543. Throughout his explanatory
canons, Reinhold used as his paradigm the position of
Saturn at the birth of the Duke, on 17 May 1490. With these tables, Reinhold intended to replace the
Alfonsine Tables; he added redundant tables to his new tables so that compilers of almanacs familiar with the older Alfonsine Tables could perform all the steps in an analogous manner.