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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.
The curvature of the horizon is easily seen in this 2008 photograph, taken from a Space Shuttle at an altitude of 226 km (140 mi). The horizon is the apparent curve that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This curve divides all ...
The particle horizon, also called the cosmological horizon, the comoving horizon, or the cosmic light horizon, is the maximum distance from which light from particles could have traveled to the observer in the age of the universe. It represents the boundary between the observable and the unobservable regions of the universe, so its distance at ...
In astronomy, coordinate systems are used for specifying positions of celestial objects (satellites, planets, stars, galaxies, etc.) relative to a given reference frame, based on physical reference points available to a situated observer (e.g. the true horizon and north to an observer on Earth's surface). [1]
An observer's upper meridian, a semicircle contains their zenith and both celestial poles; the observer's local meridian is the semicircle that passes through their zenith and the north and south points of their horizon. In astronomy, the meridian is the great circle passing through the celestial poles, as well as the zenith and nadir of an ...
The comoving distance from an observer to a distant object (e.g. galaxy) can be computed by the following formula (derived using the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric): = ′ (′) where a(t′) is the scale factor, t e is the time of emission of the photons detected by the observer, t is the present time, and c is the speed of ...
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 .
In astrophysics, an event horizon is a boundary beyond which events cannot affect an outside observer. Wolfgang Rindler coined the term in the 1950s. [1]In 1784, John Michell proposed that gravity can be strong enough in the vicinity of massive compact objects that even light cannot escape. [2]