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For example, imagine that the equinox Sun is overhead (at the zenith) at a point on the Equator (latitude 0°), and Observer A is standing at this point – the subsolar point. If he were to measure the height of the Sun above the horizon with a sextant, he would find that the altitude of the Sun was
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.
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.
The time when the Sun transits the observer's meridian depends on the geographic longitude. To find the Sun's position for a given location at a given time, one may therefore proceed in three steps as follows: [1] [2] calculate the Sun's position in the ecliptic coordinate system, convert to the equatorial coordinate system, and
In practice it is not necessary to use zenith distances, which are 90° minus altitude, as the calculations can be done using observed altitude and calculated altitude. Taking a sight using the intercept method consists of the following process: Observe the altitude above the horizon Ho of a celestial body and note the time of the observation.
This plot was created using the simple sunrise equation, approximating the sun as a single point and does not take into account effects caused by the atmosphere or the diameter of the Sun. The sunrise equation or sunset equation can be used to derive the time of sunrise or sunset for any solar declination and latitude in terms of local solar ...
Ex-meridian is a celestial navigation method of calculating an observer's position on Earth.The method gives the observer a position line on which the observer is situated. . It is usually used when the Sun is obscured at noon, and as a result, a meridian altitude is not possib
This diagram shows various possible elongations (ε), each of which is the angular distance between a planet and the Sun from Earth's perspective. In astronomy, a planet's elongation is the angular separation between the Sun and the planet, with Earth as the reference point. [1] The greatest elongation is the maximum angular separation.