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  2. Right ascension - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_ascension

    Right ascension is measured eastward up to 24 h along the celestial equator from the primary direction. Right ascension (abbreviated RA; symbol α) is the angular distance of a particular point measured eastward along the celestial equator from the Sun at the March equinox to the (hour circle of the) point in question above the Earth. [1]

  3. List of common astronomy symbols - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_astronomy...

    α - RA, right ascension, if the Greek letter does not appear, á letter will appear. δ - Dec, declination, if the Greek letter does not appear, ä letter will appear. P or P orb or T - orbital period; a - semi-major axis; b - semi-minor axis; q - periapsis, the minimum distance; Q - apoapsis, the maximum distance; e - eccentricity; i ...

  4. Equatorial coordinate system - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_coordinate_system

    Alternatively to right ascension, hour angle (abbreviated HA or LHA, local hour angle), a left-handed system, measures the angular distance of an object westward along the celestial equator from the observer's meridian to the hour circle passing through the object. Unlike right ascension, hour angle is always increasing with the rotation of Earth.

  5. Position angle - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Position_angle

    The International Astronomical Union defines it as the angle measured relative to the north celestial pole (NCP), turning positive into the direction of the right ascension. In the standard (non-flipped) images, this is a counterclockwise measure relative to the axis into the direction of positive declination.

  6. Star position - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_position

    Star position is the apparent angular position of any given star in the sky, which seems fixed onto an arbitrary sphere centered on Earth. The location is defined by a pair of angular coordinates relative to the celestial equator: right ascension (α) and declination (δ). This pair based the equatorial coordinate system.

  7. Glossary of astronomy - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_astronomy

    A-type star In the Harvard spectral classification system, a class of main-sequence star having spectra dominated by Balmer absorption lines of hydrogen. Stars of spectral class A are typically blue-white or white in color, measure between 1.4 and 2.1 times the mass of the Sun, and have surface temperatures of 7,600–10,000 kelvin.

  8. Meridian (astronomy) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_(astronomy)

    An object's right ascension and the local sidereal time can be used to determine the time of its culmination (see hour angle). The term meridian comes from the Latin meridies , which means both "midday" and "south", as the celestial equator appears to tilt southward from the Northern Hemisphere .

  9. Proper motion - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_motion

    For example, the proper motion results in right ascension in the Hipparcos Catalogue (HIP) have already been converted. [12] Hence, the individual proper motions in right ascension and declination are made equivalent for straightforward calculations of various other stellar motions. The position angle θ is related to these components by: [2] [13]