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The solar zenith angle is the zenith angle of the sun, i.e., the angle between the sun’s rays and the vertical direction. 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 ...
This is the convention followed in this article. In mathematics, a spherical coordinate system is a coordinate system for three-dimensional space where the position of a given point in space is specified by three real numbers: the radial distance r along the radial line connecting the point to the fixed point of origin; the polar angle θ ...
The zenith (UK: / ˈzɛnɪθ /, US: / ˈziːnɪθ /) [ 1 ] is the imaginary point on the celestial sphere directly "above" a particular location. "Above" means in the vertical direction (plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location (nadir). The zenith is the "highest" point on the celestial sphere.
The cosine of the hour angle (cos(h)) is used to calculate the solar zenith angle. At solar noon, h = 0.000 so cos( h ) = 1 , and before and after solar noon the cos(± h ) term = the same value for morning (negative hour angle) or afternoon (positive hour angle), so that the Sun is at the same altitude in the sky at 11:00AM and 1:00PM solar time.
In a spherical coordinate system, a colatitude is the complementary angle of a given latitude, i.e. the difference between a right angle and the latitude. [1] In geography, Southern latitudes are defined to be negative, and as a result the colatitude is a non-negative quantity, ranging from zero at the North pole to 180° at the South pole.
In astronomy, declination (abbreviated dec; symbol δ) is one of the two angles that locate a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system, the other being hour angle. The declination angle is measured north (positive) or south (negative) of the celestial equator, along the hour circle passing through the point in question.
Solar azimuth angle. 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.
The geocentric latitude θ is the complement of the polar angle or colatitude θ′ in conventional spherical polar coordinates in which the coordinates of a point are P(r,θ′,λ) where r is the distance of P from the centre O, θ′ is the angle between the radius vector and the polar axis and λ is longitude.