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Azimuth is measured eastward from the north point (sometimes from the south point) of the horizon; altitude is the angle above the horizon. The horizontal coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system that uses the observer's local horizon as the fundamental plane to define two angles of a spherical coordinate system: altitude and azimuth.
By subtracting this figure from 90°, he would find that the zenith distance of the Sun is 0°, which is the same as his latitude. If Observer B is standing at one of the geographical poles (latitude 90°N or 90°S ), he would see the Sun on the horizon at an altitude of 0°.
Angular distance appears in mathematics (in particular geometry and trigonometry) and all natural sciences (e.g., kinematics, astronomy, and geophysics). In the classical mechanics of rotating objects, it appears alongside angular velocity, angular acceleration, angular momentum, moment of inertia and torque.
Longitude (/ ˈ l ɒ n dʒ ɪ tj uː d /, AU and UK also / ˈ l ɒ ŋ ɡ ɪ-/) [1] [2] is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter lambda (λ).
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]
The frame of a sextant is in the shape of a sector which is approximately 1 ⁄ 6 of a circle (60°), [2] hence its name (sextāns, sextantis is the Latin word for "one sixth"). "). Both smaller and larger instruments are (or were) in use: the octant, quintant (or pentant) and the (doubly reflecting) quadrant [3] span sectors of approximately 1 ⁄ 8 of a circle (45°), 1 ⁄ 5 of a circle (72 ...
The difference between this measurement and the nadir point was the nadir distance of the star. A movable horizontal wire or declination-micrometer was also used. [11] Another method of observing the apparent altitude of a star was to take half of the angular distance between the star observed directly and its reflection observed in a basin of ...
The angular distances between the observed pointing and the Sun when the sun is setting to the west (top plot) and between the observed pointing and the zenith (bottom plot) The figure to the left shows the two changing angular distances as mapped onto an altitude-azimuth grid (with altitude located on the x-axis and azimuth located on the y-axis).