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Model of the equatorial coordinate system. Declination (vertical arcs, degrees) and hour angle (horizontal arcs, hours) is shown. For hour angle, right ascension (horizontal arcs, degrees) can be used as an alternative. The equatorial coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system widely used to specify the positions of celestial objects.
The equatorial describes the sky as seen from the Solar System, and modern star maps almost exclusively use equatorial coordinates. The equatorial system is the normal coordinate system for most professional and many amateur astronomers having an equatorial mount that follows the movement of the sky during the night. Celestial objects are found ...
The hour angle is paired with the declination to fully specify the location of a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system. [2]
Astronomical coordinate systems have varying fundamental planes: [2] The horizontal coordinate system uses the observer's horizon. The Besselian coordinate system uses Earth's terminator (day/night boundary). [3] This is a Cartesian coordinate system (x, y, z). The equatorial coordinate system uses the celestial equator.
As the equatorial mount became widely adopted for observation, the equatorial coordinate system, which includes right ascension, was adopted at the same time for simplicity. Equatorial mounts could then be accurately pointed at objects with known right ascension and declination by the use of setting circles.
The equatorial coordinate system on the celestial sphere. 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).
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. ... Equatorial coordinate system; This page is a redirect. The following categories are used to track and monitor this redirect:
Another common coordinate system for the plane is the polar coordinate system. [7] A point is chosen as the pole and a ray from this point is taken as the polar axis. For a given angle θ, there is a single line through the pole whose angle with the polar axis is θ (measured counterclockwise from the axis to the line).