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The angular diameter, angular size, apparent diameter, or apparent size is an angular separation (in units of angle) describing how large a sphere or circle appears from a given point of view. In the vision sciences , it is called the visual angle , and in optics , it is the angular aperture (of a lens ).
Additional confusion has occurred because there are two qualitatively different "size" experiences for a viewed object. [3] One is the perceived visual angle ′ (or apparent visual angle) which is the subjective correlate of , also called the object's perceived or apparent angular size. The perceived visual angle is best defined as the ...
The angular size redshift relation for a Lambda cosmology, with on the vertical scale megaparsecs. The angular size redshift relation describes the relation between the angular size observed on the sky of an object of given physical size, and the object's redshift from Earth (which is related to its distance, , from Earth
Change in angular velocity per unit time rad/s 2: T −2: pseudovector Angular momentum: L: Measure of the extent and direction an object rotates about a reference point kg⋅m 2 /s L 2 M T −1: conserved, bivector Angular velocity: ω: The angle incremented in a plane by a segment connecting an object and a reference point per unit time rad/s ...
The point from which the object is viewed is called the apex of the solid angle, and the object is said to subtend its solid angle at that point. In the International System of Units (SI), a solid angle is expressed in a dimensionless unit called a steradian (symbol: sr), which is equal to one square radian, sr = rad 2.
Astronomers also measure objects' apparent size as an angular diameter. For example, the full moon has an angular diameter of approximately 0.5° when viewed from Earth. One could say, "The Moon's diameter subtends an angle of half a degree." The small-angle formula can convert such an angular measurement into a distance/size ratio.
The longest diameter is called the major axis. Conjugate diameters are a pair of diameters where one is parallel to a tangent to the ellipse at the endpoint of the other diameter. Several kinds of object can be measured by equivalent diameter , the diameter of a circular or spherical approximation to the object.
Because of the effects of atmospheric blurring, ground-based telescopes will smear the image of a star to an angular diameter of about 0.5″; in poor conditions this increases to 1.5″ or even more. The dwarf planet Pluto has proven difficult to resolve because its angular diameter is about 0.1″. [13]