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In astronomy, there is also a heliocentric rectangular variant of equatorial coordinates, designated x, y, z, which has: The origin at the centre of the Sun. The fundamental plane in the plane of the Earth's equator. The primary direction (the x axis) toward the March equinox.
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 ...
Two of these charts are azimuthal equidistant projections of the north and south poles. The other two cover the equatorial region of the celestial sphere, from the declination of 30° south to 30° north. The two equatorial charts are mercator projections, one for the eastern hemisphere of the celestial sphere and one for the western hemisphere ...
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).
When paired with declination, these astronomical coordinates specify the location of a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system. An old term, right ascension ( Latin : ascensio recta ) [ 2 ] refers to the ascension , or the point on the celestial equator that rises with any celestial object as seen from Earth 's equator ...
A celestial map by the Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit, 1670. A star chart is a celestial map of the night sky with astronomical objects laid out on a grid system. They are used to identify and locate constellations, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and planets. [1]
Since the RA coordinates are fixed onto the celestial sphere, the RA disk is usually driven by a clock mechanism in sync with sidereal time. Locating an object on the celestial sphere using setting circles is similar to finding a location on a terrestrial map using latitude and longitude. Sometimes the RA setting circle has two scales on it ...
The Sydney 'Star Camera' used in the Carte du Ciel project, original publication, 1892. The Carte du Ciel (French pronunciation: [kaʁt dy sjɛl]; literally, 'Map of the Sky') and the Astrographic Catalogue (or Astrographic Chart) were two distinct but connected components of a massive international astronomical project, initiated in the late 19th century, to catalogue and map the positions of ...