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It is the complement to the solar altitude or solar elevation, which is the altitude angle or elevation angle between the sun’s rays and a horizontal plane. [1] [2] At solar noon, the zenith angle is at a minimum and is equal to latitude minus solar declination angle. This is the basis by which ancient mariners navigated the oceans. [3]
The angle of a celestial body with the zenith is the zenith angle (in astronomy, commonly referred to as the zenith distance). A body's angular position can also be given in terms of altitude , the angle above the geometric horizon; the altitude h {\displaystyle h} and the zenith angle z {\displaystyle z} are thus related by h = 90 ∘ − z ...
The second image to the right represents the u input mapped onto the celestial sphere. The u stokes parameter changes signs depending on which quadrant it is in. The four quadrants are defined by the line of symmetry, the effective East-Zenith-West plane and the North-Zenith-South plane. It is not symmetric because it is defined by the angles ...
The declination of the Sun, δ ☉, is the angle between the rays of the Sun and the plane of the Earth's equator. The Earth's axial tilt (called the obliquity of the ecliptic by astronomers) is the angle between the Earth's axis and a line perpendicular to the Earth's orbit. The Earth's axial tilt changes slowly over thousands of years but its ...
The polar angle may be called inclination angle, zenith angle, normal angle, or the colatitude. The user may choose to replace the inclination angle by its complement , the elevation angle (or altitude angle ), measured upward between the reference plane and the radial line—i.e., from the reference plane upward (towards to the positive z-axis ...
In astronomy, the altitude in the horizontal coordinate system and the zenith angle are complementary angles, with the horizon perpendicular to the zenith. The astronomical meridian is also determined by the zenith, and is defined as a circle on the celestial sphere that passes through the zenith, nadir, and the celestial poles.
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The solar azimuth angle is the azimuth (horizontal angle with respect to north) of the Sun's position. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] This horizontal coordinate defines the Sun 's relative direction along the local horizon , whereas the solar zenith angle (or its complementary angle solar elevation ) defines the Sun's apparent altitude .