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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. [5]
Time sight is a general method for determining longitude by celestial observations using a chronometer; these observations are reduced by solving the navigational triangle for meridian angle and require known values for altitude, latitude, and declination; the meridian angle is converted to local hour angle and compared with Greenwich hour angle.
A culminating star on the observer's meridian is said to have a zero hour angle (0 h). One sidereal hour (approximately 0.9973 solar hours) later, Earth's rotation will carry the star to the west of the meridian, and its hour angle will be 1 h. When calculating topocentric phenomena, right ascension may be converted into hour angle as an ...
According to the definitions of the angles on the celestial sphere GHA = GAST − α (see hour angle) where: GAST is the Greenwich apparent sidereal time (the angle between the apparent vernal equinox and the meridian in the plane of the equator). This is a known function of UT. [29]
Angles in the hours ( h), minutes ( m), and seconds ( s) of time measure must be converted to decimal degrees or radians before calculations are performed. 1 h = 15°; 1 m = 15′; 1 s = 15″ Angles greater than 360° (2 π ) or less than 0° may need to be reduced to the range 0°−360° (0–2 π ) depending upon the particular calculating ...
Geodetic latitude and geocentric latitude have different definitions. Geodetic latitude is defined as the angle between the equatorial plane and the surface normal at a point on the ellipsoid, whereas geocentric latitude is defined as the angle between the equatorial plane and a radial line connecting the centre of the ellipsoid to a point on the surface (see figure).
The new definitions of Greenwich mean and apparent sidereal time (since 2003, see above) are: (,) = () (,) = () such that θ is the Earth Rotation Angle, E PREC is the accumulated precession, and E 0 is equation of the origins, which represents accumulated precession and nutation. [ 15 ]
, the Greenwich hour angle of the body observed; L H A = G H A + L o n {\displaystyle LHA=GHA+Lon} , the local hour angle of the body observed. First calculate the altitude of the celestial body H c {\displaystyle Hc} using the equation of circle of equal altitude :